Listen to highlights of key stories in our daily briefing podcast. 

1. 3 healthcare executive actions Biden plans to take today  Full story

2. OCR lifts HIPAA penalties for COVID-19 vaccine scheduling apps: 5 details  Full story

3. Washington state taps Starbucks, Costco for help with COVID-19 vaccine rollout  Full story

4. The bridge between the consumer experience clinical care — How Saint Joseph Mercy Health System is engaging patients and detecting cancer early. Click here to attend the virtual event.

5. Houston hospital lockout forces physicians to treat patients in parking lot  Full story

6. NYU Langone Health, Facebook develop AI tool that predicts worsening COVID-19 symptoms  Full story

7. Inspector general urges CMS to take action against 100 'error-prone' providers  Full story

8. Cerner's strategic focus for 2021: 4 key insights from CEO Brent Shafer  Full story

9. Don't Miss Learning Opportunities:

• It's time for hospitals to clear the air. Join this live discussion for tips and strategies on how to eliminate surgical smoke in the OR.
• How to minimize the financial losses and promote surge preparedness — Lessons from a pandemic. Click here to download the e-book.
• Does your organization have a digital, frictionless billing and payment system? Download this whitepaper to learn how to innovate the patient financial experience.

10. Pharmacy mogul sentenced for fraud, ordered to pay $344M  Full story

11. Cyberattack knocks county health department's IT systems offline in northern Washington  Full story

12. Philips to buy medical device management company for $635M  Full story

13. Virtual + in-person = whole-person care. Click here to learn how leading hospitals are integrating telehealth and traditional care to achieve optimal outcomes.

14. 11 recent health IT, innovation partnerships  Full story

15. Daily COVID-19 stats, state-by-state:

• Test positivity rates
• Hospitalizations
• Death rates
• Vaccines administered 

Becker's Learning Opportunities

1. Still calling your patients? Click here to find out why texting them will bring about better results for your practice.

2. What can CFOs learn from an analysis of more than 100M hospital transactions? Click here to read the 2020 Denials Index.

3. Does your health system have a digital engagement strategy that coincides with its transformation goals? Download this whitepaper to learn how Bon Secours Mercy Health formulated its digital backbone.