American Heart Month: What to know about carotid artery disease
(Augusta Health – February 19, 2026)

Dr. Amani Politano, emphasizes the importance of early detection and prevention of carotid artery disease, a condition that can silently increase the risk of stroke and heart disease. She encourages patients to manage risk factors such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, and inactivity, noting that early screening and lifestyle changes can help prevent serious complications and protect long-term cardiovascular health.

Heart health beyond habits: How food access, care gaps, and community partnerships shape outcomes in Hampton Roads
(13 News Now – February 19, 2026)

During Heart Health Month, conversations often focus on diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices. However, health leaders across Hampton Roads say the reality is more complex: access to nutritious food, preventive health care, and reliable information can significantly influence cardiovascular health. According to cardiologist Dr. Zachariah Nealy with Riverside Health, maintaining heart health often comes down to consistent habits, but those habits must be realistic and sustainable.

Inside CTAC: How Carilion’s transfer center is revolutionizing patient care
(WSLS – February 19, 2026)

Many people have visited a hospital, but few see the critical work that happens behind the scenes to ensure patients receive timely care. The Carilion Transfer and Communications Center, or CTAC, operates around the clock as Carilion’s eyes and ears, coordinating patient movement in and out of seven Carilion hospitals across the region. “Physicians want to be at the bedside taking care of patients. They don’t want to be on the phone, they don’t want to deal with obstacles, so we try to streamline the process as much as possible,” said Paul Haskins, emergency physician and medical director for CTAC.

Mary Washington and Stafford Hospitals Receive the 2026 Women’s Choice Award® as one of America’s Best Hospitals for Outpatient Experience
(Mary Washington Healthcare – February 19, 2026)

Mary Washington and Stafford Hospitals have been recognized as one of America’s Best Hospitals for Outpatient Experience by the Women’s Choice Award®, placing them among the top-performing hospitals nationwide for delivering exceptional care in outpatient settings. As hospitals continue to shift toward value-based care and adopt minimally invasive technologies, more procedures are being performed on an outpatient basis. This shift has prompted hospitals to enhance customer service and streamline care coordination to improve the overall patient experience.

More than Medical Care: A Story of Full-Circle Giving
(Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters – February 13, 2026)

Nicole Carter’s connection to CHKD spans her entire life. She was born with a congenital heart condition called tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary stenosis – a condition that consists of a hole between the two ventricles in her heart (a ventricular septal defect, or VSD) and obstruction of blood flow to her lungs. At 6 months old, she had open heart surgery at CHKD’s nationally ranked Heart Center to close the VSD and remove her pulmonary valve to allow free blood flow to her lungs. By age 12, Nicole was experiencing progressive fatigue and breathlessness due to the lack of a pulmonary valve, leading to backflow into and enlargement of her right ventricle. She returned to CHKD for a second cardiac surgery to have a bioprosthetic pulmonary valve implanted.

New international guideline advances genetic testing for childhood short stature
(Children’s National Hospital – February 18, 2026)

An international team of experts has published a new consensus guideline on genetic testing in children with short stature, providing an important resource for clinicians worldwide. The guideline, published in the European Journal of Endocrinology, is the first of its kind and has received formal endorsement from several leading professional organizations, including the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology (ESPE), Pediatric Endocrine Society (PES), Latin American Society of Pediatric Endocrinology (SLEP), Chinese Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism (CSPEM), Japanese Society for Pediatric Endocrinology (JSPE), European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG), Japan Society of Human Genetics and Human Genetics Society of Australasia.

UVA School of Nursing faculty say new federal report has an error
(VPM – February 18, 2026)

The University of Virginia submitted its first quarterly report to the US Department of Justice as part of an agreement to halt federal investigations into the school’s DEI practices in late December. But some School of Nursing faculty say part of what the public university reported isn’t accurate. The report states that UVA revised the nursing school’s faculty and tenure evaluation materials “to remove questions or criteria assessing candidates on their promotion of diversity or similar concepts.”

VCU Health on hospital-at-home and RPM governance
(Mobi Health News – February 18, 2026)

David Collins, director of digital home and senior services at VCU Health, tells MobiHealthNews about his upcoming talk at the 2026 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas in March, where he will discuss how the Academic Medical Center leveraged lessons learned from its innovative programs to create its approach for digital transformation.

VDH sides with American Academy of Pediatrics for vaccine recommendations
(12 On Your Side – February 19, 2026)

Almost a dozen cases of measles so far this year along with a pediatric flu death is now prompting the Virginia Department of Health to align immunization schedules with the American Academy of Pediatrics and not The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s schedule. The state health commissioner sharing that during an exclusive one-on-one interview.

VHHA Solutions Partners with Andor Health® to Transform Care Delivery Across the Continuum with Multimodal Agentic AI Platform ThinkAndor®
(Yahoo Finance – February 19, 2026)

Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA) affiliate VHHA Solutions has entered into a new strategic partnership with Andor Health®, a leader in agentic AI software infrastructure for healthcare. As part of this collaboration, ThinkAndor® has been selected as an endorsed platform to support care delivery transformation for hospitals and health systems across the Commonwealth as well as non-acute, senior living, and behavioral health settings. In working with Andor Health through VHHA Solutions, organizations can gain access to a single, unified AI software infrastructure to manage care delivery across the care continuum – from the digital front door and inpatient care to home-based monitoring and post-acute encounters – while ensuring equitable access to high-quality care for rural and underserved communities.

Virginia bill would ban noncompete clauses for health care professionals
(WHRO – February 19, 2026)

A proposal moving through the Virginia General Assembly would ban noncompete agreements for doctors, nurses and other licensed health care professionals, a change supporters said could help keep clinicians in communities that are already facing shortages. Noncompete clauses that limit where a clinician can work after leaving a job, particularly preventing them from going to work for local competitors, have become routine language in many health care contracts.

WINA Live Well Series: UVA Health opens a new Pharmacy in Albemarle County
(CVille Right Now – February 18, 2026)

Adrienne Cobb, the Director of Central Fulfillment Services, and Morgin Astrin, the Pharmacy Manager for Anselary Support at UVA Health joined the show to discuss the benefit to the community of UVA’s Pharmacy Central Services location.

Nevada Debuts Public Option Amid Tumultuous Federal Changes to Health Care
(KFF Health News – February 19, 2026)

More than 10,000 people have enrolled in Nevada’s new public option health plans, which debuted last fall with the expectation that they would bring lower prices to the health insurance market. Those preliminary numbers from the open enrollment period that ended in January are less than a third of what state officials had projected. Nevada is the third state so far to launch a public option plan, along with Colorado and Washington state. The idea is to offer lower-cost plans to consumers to expand health care access.

To privatize Idaho Medicaid, the Legislature may hire its own consultant
(News from the States – February 19, 2026)

The Idaho Legislature is considering hiring a consultant to guide the state’s shift to private companies managing Medicaid benefits. Idaho’s move to privatized Medicaid management — a model called managed care that is common throughout the U.S. — comes at the direction of a sweeping state cost cutting bill passed last year. The transition will likely take years, with state health officials hoping to launch the comprehensive Medicaid managed care contract in 2029. Before then, state officials are planning years of prep work to help design the contract, which will likely be the state’s biggest contract.

Family premiums account for 10% of income in 19 states: Commonwealth Fund
(Fierce Healthcare – February 18, 2026)

Middle-income workers and their families are spending an average of 10.1% of the median income on their health premiums and deductibles, according to a new report. The Commonwealth Fund analyzed national data from 2024 on the employer-sponsored insurance market and found that the premium contributions for family coverage ranged from an average of $5,584 in Oregon to $9,148 in California. In 19 states, the average premium and deductible contribution topped 10% of that state’s median income. Health insurance costs varied significantly between employers of different sizes and industries, while healthcare costs fluctuated between geographies, contributing to the broad range, according to the study.

Medicare Advantage enrollment 2026: Winners and losers
(Modern Healthcare – February 18, 2026) SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED

Medicare Advantage enrollment growth slowed over the past year, new data from the Centers from Medicare and Medicaid Services show.

Medicare Advantage enrollment hits 35.5M after another year of slow growth, CMS data show
(Fierce Healthcare – February 19, 2026)

Just shy of about 35.5 million seniors were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, per new federal data, representing another year of slim growth in the program. MA enrollment has grown rapidly over the past decade, with the program eclipsing more than 50% of Medicare-eligible beneficiaries. However, growth of late has stagnated as costs continue to rise and major players exit certain markets to address this challenge. For comparison, enrollment in MA was about 34.4 million on Feb. 1, 2025, according to data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

AI search: Why health systems favor credibility over clicks
(Becker’s Hospital Review – February 19, 2026)

As patients increasingly use AI search and chatbots to find health information, health system marketers told Becker’s they’re focusing on cultivating credibility and connectivity over chasing clicks. Sixteen percent of Americans now turn to chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini for medical advice, according to a recent Gallup poll. At the same time, Google’s AI Overviews, which provide an AI-generated summary above the customary website links, have upended the search business. “The traditional model where consumers ask Google a question and navigate multiple websites for answers is becoming obsolete. Equally outdated is the notion that a single website serves as the central hub for information,” said Ashley Pollard, vice president of marketing at St. Louis-based SSM Health. “As AI evaluates every digital touchpoint, a holistic focus on the quality, credibility and structure of our content across the entire digital ecosystem is no longer optional — it is essential.”

Early prenatal care, considered best for moms and babies, is on the decline in the US
(Associated Press – February 19, 2026)

Early prenatal care improves the chances of having a healthy pregnancy and baby. But a new federal report shows it’s been on the decline. The share of U.S. births to women who began prenatal care in the first trimester dropped from 78.3% in 2021 to 75.5% in 2024, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. Meanwhile, starting care later in pregnancy or getting no care at all has been on the rise. Prenatal care beginning in the second trimester rose from 15.4% to 17.3%, and starting care in the third trimester or getting no care went from 6.3% to 7.3%.

Harnessing AI to Combat Rising Denials and Reimbursement Delays in Healthcare
(Healthcare Innovation Group – February 19, 2026)

According to a  Staffingly report, rising denials and reimbursement delays are draining hospital cash reserves. Experian’s State of Claims 2024 report identified increasing denial rates of 10 to 15 percent as a major threat to provider finance. Amid these challenges, hospitals are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to confront the most complex claim types. Healthcare Innovation spoke with Frank Forte, CEO of EnableComp, about how AI is giving providers a fighting chance with the toughest claims. EnableComp is a provider of complex revenue cycle management (RCM) services based in Tennessee. In January, the organization announced its acquisition of Health Resources Optimization, Inc. (H/ROI), a clinical denials and revenue recovery firm serving health systems in the Northeast. The acquisition expands the revenue EnableComp captures by resolving and preventing the most challenging clinical denials — DRG (Diagnosis-related groups) downgrades and medical-necessity denials — and by recovering lost revenue through post-bill DRG validation.

Healthcare real estate report confirms trend toward outpatient care
(Healthcare Finance News – February 19, 2026)

A new real estate study confirms the trend hospitals are taking toward outpatient care. Occupancy in outpatient healthcare real estate remains extremely strong, exceeding 92% in many major markets, according to information gleaned by Colliers from the 2026 Revista Medical Real Estate Investment Forum held earlier this month in Palos Verdes, California. Colliers specializes in commercial real estate, and Revista focuses on data in medical real estate. Flexible ambulatory strategy is critical as health systems are prioritizing adaptable building design to support multispecialty consolidation, while balancing continued outpatient expansion with necessary inpatient modernization, the report said.

How Health Systems Reduce the Strain of Documentation Burden
(HealthTech Magazine – February 19, 2026)

City of Hope is a leader in cancer treatment and research, with facilities in Southern California, Phoenix, Chicago and Atlanta. In 2024, it onboarded more than 150,000 new patients across those locations, many of whom arrived with advanced cancers and lengthy medical histories that physicians needed to review. Historically, those reviews have been a major pain point, says Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Nasim Eftekhari. “At a scale of 150,000 patients, imagine how many lost hours that is for our clinicians,” she says. “A lot of times, they’d do this during what we call ‘pajama time,’ in the evening or very early in the morning.”

Kids with sleep apnea may face higher risks of flu, COVID
(CIDRAP – February 18, 2026)

Children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) were twice as likely to be diagnosed as having influenza or COVID-19 in the five years following diagnosis than those without the condition, according to a large study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

Telehealth use in primary care stabilizes: research
(Healthcare Dive – February 19, 2026)

Telehealth use in primary care has held fairly stable in recent years, suggesting the sector has reached an equilibrium after a boom in virtual care amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis by Epic Research. Telehealth visits accounted for over 8% of primary care encounters in July 2022, according to the research published on Tuesday. By October 2025, telehealth made up just under 6% of visits — a roughly 30% decline. But since 2023, the share of virtual care visits in primary care has held relatively steady at around 6% to 7% of appointments.

Exclusive: US CDC cancels February vaccine adviser meeting, no new one set yet
(Reuters – February 19, 2026)

A U.S. vaccine advisory committee meeting scheduled for later this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not be held, with no new dates announced, according to a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stepped up efforts to rewrite national vaccination policy, including dropping broad recommendations for six childhood shots including COVID and hepatitis B, deepening federal support for states’ vaccine exemptions, and cutting funding for mRNA-based vaccine research.

Federal judge strikes down FTC rule expanding premerger reporting requirements
(Healthcare Dive – February 18, 2026)

A federal judge struck down a Federal Trade Commission regulation that required companies, including healthcare firms and hospitals, to provide more information to the agency ahead of mergers and acquisitions, likely slowing down dealmaking. The rule, finalized in 2024 under the Biden administration, exceeds the FTC’s statutory authority because the agency wasn’t able to show benefits from the regulation would outweigh its “significant and widespread costs,” Judge Jeremy Kernodle of Texas’ Eastern District wrote in the ruling last Thursday.

Jay Bhattacharya named acting CDC director
(Politico – February 18, 2026)

Jay Bhattacharya, the head of the National Institutes of Health, will become acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention following the dismissal last week of Jim O’Neill, according to a White House official and an administration official. President Donald Trump will name O’Neill to lead the National Science Foundation, one of the officials said. O’Neill, who was also deputy secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, was removed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as part of a broader restructuring that elevated Chris Klomp, deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to chief counselor in charge of overseeing all HHS operations.

The federal directory of doctors and hospitals is coming this year
(STAT News – February 19, 2026)

After years of grand ambitions, the federal government disclosed that it is months away from rolling out a centralized list of doctors and hospitals filled with up-to-date contact and insurance information. Details of how the national provider directory will work are scant — federal officials buried the development in a document intended for health insurance companies. The directory will be in a testing phase to start.