NYU Langone Health aims to increase research and physician training on psychedelic medicine through a new center, the New York City-based health system said Feb. 24.

Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine had an overall efficacy rate of 72 percent in U.S. trials, meaning it provides strong protection against severe illness and death from the virus, according to an FDA analysis posted Feb. 24, The New York Times reported. 

Grant Memorial Hospital in Petersburg, W.Va., has agreed to pay a $320,175 settlement for submitting false medical claims to insurers, the U.S. Justice Department said Feb. 24. 

A program created to ensure equitable COVID-19 vaccine access for people of color in California is being misused by some residents, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Oak Street Health, a Chicago-based network of primary care centers for Medicare beneficiaries, plans to expand into Georgia this summer. 

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly issued an executive order Feb. 24 temporarily authorizing additional professionals to administer COVID-19 vaccines.

Machias, Maine-based Down East Community Hospital plans to acquire Calais (Maine) Regional Hospital, the only other hospital in Maine's Washington County, out of bankruptcy, according to the Bangor Daily News.

The stigma that surgical robots are overrated or too expensive should be reconsidered because of the many benefits they can offer a health system.

CVS Health on Feb. 24 added six new states to the list of states where it offers COVID-19 vaccinations, bringing the total to 17.

The National Institutes of Health will lead a major research program focused on identifying what causes prolonged COVID-19 symptoms after the infection has cleared, now widely known as 'Long COVID,' and on the development of methods to treat or prevent the problems, the agency announced Feb. 23. 

Kimberly Hunter, DNP, RN, was chosen as chief nursing executive at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City, hospital leaders said. 

The rate at which a vaccine protects against COVID-19 appears to be the strongest factor in deciding whether to get vaccinated, according to research published in the March issue of PNAS.

The 800 registered nurses at Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare's St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass., plan to strike March 8 over staffing and patient care, according to hospital and union statements.

Genome sequencing revealed a new coronavirus variant identified in a severely sick newborn treated at Washington, D.C.-based Children's National Hospital, reports The Washington Post. 

In April, Microsoft will release the first update for its Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare that will include new features for remote patient-monitoring and the Microsoft Teams and Epic EHR integration, according to a Feb. 24 company blog post. 

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Researchers developed a mathematical model to assess the false negative rate of COVID-19 tests, according to a Feb. 22 news release. 

An appeals court upheld a verdict against the former chief executive of a blood testing laboratory and two of its marketers that found them liable for violating the False Claims Act.

Nationwide, COVID-19 hospitalizations are still falling since hitting their mid-January peak, though the rate of decline has slowed over the last few days, reports The COVID Tracking Project.  

James Alender, former president and CEO of Community Howard Regional Health in Kokomo, Ind., has died at age 70, Kokomo Perspective reported Feb. 23.

A female physician at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia is recovering from multiple stab wounds after a patient she was treating Feb. 23 allegedly attacked her, according to CBS Philly.