1. NYU Langone performs rare heart-lung transplant using new method Full story

2. Biden to sign 10 exec orders on pandemic response; variants may drive high infection rate through spring — 6 COVID-19 updates Full story

3. Optum expects to add 10,000 physicians this year Full story

4. With a clinician shortage and cost crisis looming, how should hospitals approach staffing? Click here to find out.

5. New Jersey faces backlash for giving smokers priority COVID-19 vaccine access Full story

6. FDA approves chronic heart failure drug developed by Merck, Bayer Full story

7. The 5 phases of a third-party data breach + prevention strategies for hospitals. Click here to read more.

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

9. Biden picks acting HHS, CMS heads Full story

10. Women vulnerable to sudden cardiac death overnight, study finds Full story

11. 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.

12. Racial disparities in death rates common in major US cities, study finds Full story

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

• Test positivity rates
• Death rates
• Where the virus is spreading fastest, slowest
• Hospitalizations
• Vaccines administered