Vita Willett, the senior vice president and area manager of Kaiser Permanente Riverside (Calif.) Medical Center, has announced her plans to retire after more than 43 years of service. 

Jennifer Leach has been appointed vice president of managed care at Greensboro, N.C.- based Cone Health. 

An Illinois marketing firm owner was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for his role in a $3.1 million kickback scheme involving Janesville, Wis.-based Mercyhealth.

Women experiencing gestational hypertension or preeclampsia have a 2.4-times higher risk of developing hypertension 10 years post-pregnancy, a study published June 13 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found.

Amazon has been advertising job openings at its various healthcare businesses. Here are nine healthcare-related jobs the tech giant recently posted:

Integrated healthcare company Encompass Health launched its 150th post-acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital linked to the Oracle Cerner EHR on June 20.

Lakeside Medical Center will close its baby-delivery unit because of a decline in births in recent years, The Palm Beach Post reported June 21.

Colleen Assavapisitkul, MSN, RN, was named president of Adventist Health Clear Lake in Clearlake, Calif.

Amid a growing risk of recession for the U.S., there is at least one healthcare occupation that appears in solid position to withstand an economic downturn: nursing, a registered nurse from Louisiana argues in a June 20 article on nurse.org.  

Below are 10 hospitals, health systems or hospital operators that posted job listings seeking chief medical officers in the last two weeks.

Texas Tech University Health Science Center notified patients of a data breach that occured at its eye care software vendor, which has potentially exposed the protected health information of more than 1.2 million patients, NewsChannel 10 reported June 10. 

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spectrum Health recently received three national accreditations from the American College of Cardiology, FOX 17 West Michigan reported June 20.

COVID-19 modeling suggests cases will continue to rise nationwide through the end of June, while hospitalizations and deaths remain stable through early July. 

Healthgrades has recognized 399 hospitals as recipients of its 2022 Outstanding Patient Experience Award, the organization said June 21. This represents the top 15 percent of hospitals in the U.S. for patient experience. 

Forty-seven hospital and health system CEOs exited their roles in the first five months of this year, and several others announced plans to step down. 

Sutter Davis (Calif.) Hospital named Traci Sheesley, BSN,  its new chief nurse executive, The Daily Democrat reported June 18.

The American Hospital Association told CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure that the agency's proposed 3.2 percent funding increase for inpatient payments is "woefully inadequate."

On June 18, the CDC backed the FDA's authorizations for Pfizer's and Moderna's vaccines for children under 5, offering protection against COVID-19 for about 19 million infants and preschoolers in the U.S.

Medicare recipients could have saved up to $3.6 billion on generic drug costs in 2020 if Medicare paid the same prices as investor Mark Cuban's pharmacy, according to a study published June 20 in Annals of Internal Medicine. Mr. Cuban tweeted the results, urging President Joe Biden and other elected officials to "have your people call my people and let’s get this done."

Lauren Dudley has been named CEO of LewisGale Hospital Montgomery in Blacksburg, Va., part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare.