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

1. Saint Luke's closes 2 Kansas hospitals  Full story

2. Medical device company CEO charged with fraud in alleged COVID-19 test scam  Full story

3. 5 things we still don't know about COVID-19  Full story

4. Healthcare cybersecurity report: 6 common vulnerabilities in mobile threat landscape. Click here to read more.

5. Hospitals lose appeal in price transparency case  Full story

6. Biden taps 3 officials for COVID-19 response team; McConnell blocks bill for $2K stimulus checks -- 7 updates  Full story

7. New Jersey may impose per-bed fees on nonprofit hospitals  Full story

8. Wisconsin hospital discards hundreds of COVID-19 vaccines after improper storage  Full story

9. 3 Must Reads: 

• Outsourcing can be an innovative way to stay competitive in today’s hospital market. Click here to learn how one health system achieved this via a strategic revenue cycle partnership.
• What can CFOs learn from an analysis of more than 100M hospital transactions? Click here to read the 2020 Denials Index.
• What will be the pandemic's biggest effects in the years to come? Click here to learn what healthcare leaders think.

10. Judge prevents ProMedica from ending insurance contracts with McLaren St. Luke's  Full story

11. Skip line for COVID-19 vaccine and lose your license, California governor warns healthcare providers  Full story 

12. Physician assistant median annual base salary, by state  Full story 

13. The 7 keys to creating a rational pricing model that doesn't sacrifice profitability. Click here to hear lessons learned from LifePoint Health and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children

14. Rural California hospitals struggle with state's new PPE stockpile mandate  Full story 

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

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

Becker's Learning Opportunities

1. 11 must-reads for hospital leaders looking to get the most out of their IT investments in 2021. Click here to read more.

2. The telehealth connection: How technology is revolutionizing remote patient care. Click here to read the report.

3. A new era of genetic testing: How health systems can help deliver truly personalized care to millions of patients. Click here to read more.