The Department of Veterans Affairs is opening four new centers dedicated to testing artificial intelligence, FedScoop reported Oct. 12. 

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic has sequenced the genes of more than 100,000 patients for a database that will be used for precision medicine and predictive analytics.

Innovation hubs in hospitals aim to develop and implement new technologies, processes and healthcare solutions that can enhance patient care. 

Emory Healthcare, based in Atlanta, plans to join software company Graphite's alliance of health systems that aims to create a common language for digital health. 

As hospitals and health systems turn their focus to innovation, several are opening new centers and partnering with other institutions to further those efforts.

Pharmacy benefits manager company Capital Rx closed on a $50 million financing round that saw participation from 10 health systems, including Houston-based Memorial Hermann and Phoenix-based Banner Health.

Mark Howell, director of policy for the American Hospital Association, said if CMS' waiver for hospital-at-home programs isn't extended, a lot of the programs would shut down and only payer-providers could keep them going, Time reported Oct. 10. 

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic is working to attract biotech companies to its planned Discovery Oasis innovation hub in Phoenix, Ariz., local news outlet ABC 15 reported Oct. 11.

Surgeons often have an adversarial relationship with data.

Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health announced the launch of a new innovation center that will be located in San Francisco. 

From artificial intelligence writing patient portal messages for physicians to "hospital rooms of the future" equipped with voice assistants and video-based care, there are a lot of cool things in healthcare nowadays. But which are actually making a difference in the lives of patients and healthcare workers?

HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital has opened a new 3,000-square-foot simulation lab that will help train medical residents from across the globe, WWSB reported.

New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System has opened a 150,000-square-foot innovation center to advance clinical research and discoveries.

Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare partners with 5 academic institutions to accelerate its innovation efforts. 

Cleveland Clinic has opened the first phase of its 341,000-square-foot innovation district.

Big tech giant NVIDIA helped launch Invenio, a medtech company using artificial intelligence to allow clinicians to evaluate biopsies in the operating room, through an NVIDIA-sponsored program that helps startups evolve faster.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, is rolling out a national health innovation network with Dallas and Cambridge, Mass., as the first two hubs, the agency said Sept. 26.

Biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks announced a collaboration with Pfizer, worth up to $331 million, focused on discovering new RNA-based drug candidates.

At Duke University's Duke Institute for Health Innovation, a group of researchers created an algorithm designed to pinpoint individuals with peripheral artery disease by analyzing diagnosis codes and their medical histories, The Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 24. 

Daniel Derman, chief innovation officer and senior vice president of Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine, told the American Hospital Association's "Advancing Health" podcast that EHR documentation has been a barrier for the healthcare workforce, but Northwestern is piloting several initiatives using technology to bring back the joy of practicing medicine.