Troubled Jackson, Miss.-based Merit Health Central, which has closed a number of its operations in recent months, has now lost its CEO, according to a Jan. 30 report from Mississippi Today.

Twelve states are aiming to pass dozens of bills this year that target gender-affirming healthcare for transgender and nonbinary individuals. So far, Utah is the first of the 12 to do so. Just yesterday, the state's governor signed the bill into law that "blocks minors from receiving gender-transition health care," according to The New York Times.

Hank Milius, president and CEO of Muncie, Ind.-based Meridian Health Services, will retire at the end of 2023. 

Memphis, Tenn.-based St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has named Catherine Corbin its first chief business innovation officer. 

The Biden administration aims to expand access to free birth control under the Affordable Care Act through a proposed rule issued Jan. 30.

Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health plans to build a $265 million hospital in Frisco, Texas, Community Impact reported Jan. 30.

Expenses rose and investment income fell, but Klamath Falls, Ore.-based Sky Lakes Medical Center was still able to post net income of $7.3 million in fiscal 2022. That figure compared with net income of $9.6 million in 2021.

From backing artificial intelligence-based startups that can detect emotions to developing an artificial intelligence-based tool that can predict "ICU delirium," here are three ways hospitals and health systems are using artificial intelligence to improve patient care:

Madison, Wis.-based UW Health has changed the name of its Rockford, Ill.-based clinic, Riverwest Clinic, to UW Health Marchesano Drive Clinic, Rock River Current reported Jan. 27. 

Omkar Kulkarni has been promoted to vice president and chief transformation and digital officer at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, which also established a new Office of Transformation, according to a Jan. 30 news release shared with Becker's.

From rolling out a new medication prescription service, to clearing a regulatory hurdle regarding its pending One Medical acquisition, Amazon is continuing to increase its healthcare presence. 

Nebraska Medicine, which operates a 718-bed acute care hospital in Omaha, said it had net income of $12.7 million in the six months ended Dec. 31, 2022, even as expenses rose significantly.

A federal class-action lawsuit intends to highlight and rectify how people with disabilities are being housed in nursing homes without proper resources or plans to transition them to appropriate settings, radio station GBH News reported Jan. 26.

Thibodaux, La.-based Nicholls State University named Raquel Engolio, EdD, RN, dean of nursing.

The Food and Drug Administration has tapped former Oracle Senior Vice President Troy Tazbaz as its director of digital health.

Here are six organizations opening or expanding nursing programs: 

Providence, R.I.-based Women & Infants Hospital tapped Dr. Nejat Zeyneloglu as its chief medical officer.

From U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs EHR updates to new genomics and kidney diagnostic tools, here is what Oracle Cerner did in January.

Throughout Cleveland Clinic's healthcare system, a protocol known as "code sepsis" allows physicians to diagnose and treat the infection before it becomes life threatening. The hospital's standardized sepsis response is carried out by by specialized response teams at the bedside. 

Coming off of its $28.4 billion acquisition from Oracle, Cerner is looking to create the "world's first truly modern healthcare ecosystem," Mike Sicilia, executive vice president of Oracle Global Industries, told Becker's.