The executive order President Joe Biden signed July 9 promises to lower drug prices, but policy experts have expressed doubt that such pledges will come to fruition, Kaiser Health News reported July 19.

Medical schools and teaching hospitals should require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Association of American Medical Colleges urged July 16.

The mortality rate for hospitalized patients treated by female physicians was 4.8 percent, compared to 5.2 percent for patients cared for by male physicians, according to research published July 16 in JAMA Health Forum.

Heat-related emergency department visits during a six-day period in June, when most of Oregon and Washington were under an excessive heat warning, were 16 times higher than the same period in 2019, a July 16 CDC report found. 

Healthcare organizations have until Aug. 30 to apply for American Rescue Plan funding intended to reduce burnout and promote mental health among healthcare workers, HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration said July 16.

Brass Valley, Calif.-based Sierra Nevada Family Care Physicians began notifying patients that months' of their data had been recovered after police searched a suspect's vehicle during a May arrest.

The pandemic led to a dip in emergency room visits, and the numbers may not recover, UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty said during the company's July 15 earnings call.

Signify Health, a healthcare technology company that provides in-home care and management services, welcomed former Cerner executive Sam Pettijohn as its new chief growth officer, the company said July 19. 

President Joe Biden called out social media platforms including Facebook for allowing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation to spread on its services, which he claims has resulted in the deaths of Americans, CNBC reported July 16. 

Ten patients and four employees at Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center have tested positive for COVID-19, the hospital said July 18.

The U.S. government has launched a website to provide resources to protect hospitals and other businesses from ransomware attacks.

Advocate Aurora Health and Intermountain Healthcare are two of the latest health systems to report having been affected by a cybersecurity breach of cancer care software company Elekta. 

Several nonprofit health systems in North Carolina are working to gain primary care market share in the region amid HCA Healthcare's retreat, the Hendersonville Lightning reported July 18. 

Hospitals in Springfield, Mo., continue to deal with an overflow of COVID-19 patients that's causing them to transfer patients to facilities in different cities, according to KY3.

Regions with low vaccination rates are primarily driving rising U.S. COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, reports The New York Times.

Some employees at Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System and Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health are pushing back against COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Of all U.S. hospitals, just 5.6 percent are fully compliant with CMS' price disclosure rule, according to a PatientRightsAdvocate.org study reported by The Washington Post July 16.

The Queen's Health Systems in Honolulu plans to invest $500 million to expand its hospital in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported July 18. 

Vermont has the highest percentage of its population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the CDC's COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration data tracker.

In his first advisory, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, urged technology and social media companies to "take more responsibility" to combat the proliferation of online health misinformation. YouTube has a plan to do just that, Garth Graham, MD, the director and global head of healthcare and public health partnerships at Google and YouTube, told Becker's.