Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer need to wear masks or follow social distancing guidelines in most indoor settings, according to CDC guidance issued May 13. But how will they prove their vaccination status?

From the advent of EHRs to rapid telemedicine adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has drastically transformed the patient and provider experience.

The pandemic imposed a significant delay on surgical innovation, one that will require a good deal of time and funding to overcome, according to Dr. Toby Gordon a healthcare policy and innovation expert and professor at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University.

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University in Tempe selected remote patient monitoring platform Hoy Health as one of the winners of their joint MedTech Accelerator program, the organizations said in a May 13 news release.

Amazon unveiled the newest designs of its second headquarters in Arlington, Va., on May 12, along with the company's plans to hire nearly 2,000 more employees at the campus. 

Two of the nation's biggest healthcare providers are betting on the future of healthcare delivered from outside the four walls of the hospital.

Amazon Alexa has become a staple in many homes across the U.S., with the digital assistant even gaining traction in healthcare settings and patient care plans.

The pandemic has forced healthcare organizations to recognize how slow they have been to adopt new technologies and to refocus efforts on developing both patient-facing and worker-facing solutions.

Big Tech dominates many aspects of Americans' lives. Through a series of health IT acquisitions, the tech giants are becoming a staple of healthcare.

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic is teaming up with NxgenPort, a biomedical technology company that builds remote patient monitoring devices.

Mobile health apps and wearable devices have surged, with the potential to track patients' health in between physician visits. These devices can improve patient health and offer an opportunity to incentivize healthy behaviors, according to a May 7 report published in Harvard Business Review.

University of Texas Dell Medical School researchers are building new blockchain technology to devise a better way for people experiencing homelessness to have their identity verified and shared by healthcare providers, according to a May 10 Austin American-Statesman report.

Digital therapeutics and virtual care provider Biofourmis named Maulik Majmudar, MD, its new chief medical officer, the Boston-based company said May 10.

Here are nine recent health IT vendor contracts and go-lives accelerating digital transformation efforts at healthcare organizations.

Public health experts are concerned about California's reliance on big tech companies to help with its COVID-19 response, citing concerns such dependence could lead to a crumbling public health infrastructure, Kaiser Health News reported May 6.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Nemours Children's Health System is offering a new means of transportation for patients, visitors, employees and community members: self-driving shuttles.

Northwell Health has awarded $1.3 million to four innovation projects spearheaded by the New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based health system's employees.

From launching new venture funds to spearheading multimillion-dollar digital transformation projects, hospitals and health systems are making strategic investments to boost healthcare innovation.

Many hospitals and health systems are strategizing how to implement successful care-at-home initiatives, which have been accelerated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly 90 percent of emergency department patients who were enrolled in Penn Medicine's new home recovery program did not need to return to the hospital in the month that followed their original visit, according to a study published in Healthcare.