Nashville, Tenn.-based Ardent Health Services partnered with SwitchPoint Ventures to launch an innovation studio focused on healthcare delivery and administration.

New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health has rolled out Northwell Health Pregnancy Chats, an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot designed to provide medical advice to pregnant patients.

While 2022 was one of the most difficult years financially for nonprofit healthcare systems, the outlook for 2023 does provide some cautious optimism, Fitch Ratings analysts said on a webinar Jan. 11.

Hospitals nationwide are facing capacity issues amid ongoing staffing shortages and an early and severe start to the respiratory virus season. Now, the rapid spread of XBB.1.5 — a highly transmissible omicron subvariant with a high capacity for immune escape — threatens to further magnify these challenges.

CMS on Jan. 11 unveiled key dates for the first year of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program under the Inflation Reduction Act, a $739 billion package that aims to lower drug costs.

A new study from UC Davis Health has quantified the benefits of telehealth in terms of patients' cost savings and healthcare's carbon footprint. 

After debunking common myths about weight loss drugs, the Emergency Care Research Institute, a patient safety nonprofit, said healthcare needs to "fully embrace" these FDA-approved medications. 

From two New Jersey-based health systems reaching a settlement in a yearslong dispute, to CommonSpirit Health being hit with a lawsuit over a ransomware attack, here are seven recent lawsuits and settlements involving hospitals Becker's has reported since Dec. 21: 

The University of California's health system is renewing contracts with hundreds of outside hospitals and clinics, many with religious affiliations, and some of its physicians and faculty fear they could be barred from providing some forms of treatment to patients, the Los Angeles Times reported Jan. 11.

Police said an Iowa certified nurse practitioner, who was found dead in the hospital where he worked, sexually assaulted nine patients, the Des Moines Register reported Jan. 10.

Candida auris, a drug-resistant fungal infection, has been found in a long-term care facility in Central Mississippi, NBC affiliate WLBT reported Jan. 10.

Salem (Ore.) Health has had its "AA-" rating affirmed on bonds the health system owns as well as for its overall rating, Fitch said Jan. 11. The outlook for the system is stable.

On Jan. 11, Glassdoor released its annual list of "Best Places to Work" in 2023, broken down for the first time by company size. 

Large health systems are fueling healthcare innovation by making their own investments in biotech, therapeutics and health tech by supporting intriguing new startups.

The venture capital arm of Fountain Valley, Calif.-based MemorialCare led a $9 million financing round for healthcare risk management company Censinet, in a round that saw additional participation from Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai, Johnson City, Tenn.-based Ballad Health and Raleigh, N.C.-based UNC Health Rex.

GE HealthCare has partnered with Ordr to provide health systems with continuous network performance and security monitoring of all clinical assets.

Allina Health has partnered with software company Qventus to use its artificial intelligence-based tool to automate operating room scheduling processes. 

Jennifer Woods, MSN, RN, took on the role of vice president and chief nursing officer at Baptist Health Hardin in Elizabethtown, Ky., on Jan. 9. 

Northern Light Health turning to a for-profit giant like Optum for "financial help" won't help it mitigate billing- and insurance-related costs and underscores hospitals' growing financial woes, Daniel Bryant, MD, a former physician at Mercy Hospital in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, wrote in a Jan. 10 article in the Press Herald.

Springfield, Mass.-based Baystate Health — which operates four hospitals, including the level 1 trauma facility Baystate Medical Center — reported a net loss of $327.4 million in the year ending Sept. 30 2022.