Google will provide more than $150 million to support COVID-19 vaccine education and distribution efforts and convert several of its office spaces into vaccination sites, according to a Jan. 25 company blog post from CEO Sundar Pichai. 

From their thoughts on automated data collection to insight about what IT improvements are needed to expedite the COVID-19 vaccine rollout process, here are eight key quotes about the role of innovation in healthcare that executives from hospitals and health systems across the country recently shared with Becker's Hospital Review:

As executive vice president and chief strategy and innovation officer at St. Louis-based Ascension, Eduardo Conrado has led several tech-based initiatives over the past year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine inked a neurosurgery research collaboration with Proprio, a Seatttle-based company that develops virtual reality technologies for surgery, according to a Jan. 21 news release.

Cities and states across the U.S. are experiencing delays with their COVID-19 vaccine rollouts, but some local health departments are working to alleviate residents' concerns about missing their chance to get the shot through new digital notification systems.

Tom Andriola, vice chancellor of IT and data at UC Irvine, has been involved with innovative technology initiatives his entire career, experience that served him well as he architected the IT improvements UC Irvine needed to respond to the pandemic.

For Daniel Durand, MD, chief innovation officer of Baltimore-based LifeBridge Health, the silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the shift in healthcare delivery and biomedical research fueling innovation growth over the past year.

Pankaj Jandwani, MD, an experienced physician and the chief innovation officer at Midland, Mich.-based MidMichigan Health, has been with the health system for over 20 years.

Automated virtual care and communication platform Conversa increased its Series B financing round Jan. 19 to $20 million, up from $12 million last June, led by Northwell Health's venture arm. 

Claus Torp Jensen, PhD, leads Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's digital transformation and data strategies at time when innovations are rapidly accelerating in wake of COVID-19.

Here are 11 recent health IT vendor contracts and go-lives accelerating digital transformation efforts at healthcare organizations.

Richard Zane, MD, the chief innovation officer at Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth, knows a strong IT infrastructure is integral to the operations of an entire health system.

Although companies are pouring trillions into digital transformation, a high percentage of these initiatives fail.

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's joint biological innovation center has secured $76 million and signed a lease for a new facility in Watertown, Mass., according to a Jan. 14 news release.

Big tech companies and major hospitals teamed up Jan. 14 to form the Vaccination Credential Initiative, a collective working to create a digital, interoperable vaccination record system.

CVS Health has launched a new medical alert system designed to protect seniors living at home, the company said Jan. 14.

Cleveland-based University Hospitals is using a digital platform it developed with IT company Logis Solutions to schedule and track COVID-19 immunizations, Logis said.

CMS issued a final rule Jan. 12 that will speed up the FDA approval process for Medicare coverage of new and innovative medical devices and technologies.

Apple and Cambridge, Mass.-based neurological therapies company Biogen will research how the Apple Watch and iPhone could help monitor cognitive health, Biogen said.

Google sister company Verily inked an agreement with Microsoft to run its biomedical research platform on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform.