In order for health systems to “not be commoditized fully,” they need to collect data to know their patients’ behaviors better and build stronger relationships with them, argued Sara Vaezy, Providence’s chief strategy and digital officer. Consumer brands like Amazon have been doing this for years so they can deliver personalized experiences to their users, and it’s time hospitals take a page out of their playbook, she said.

Here is a selection of recent executive hires, exits, promotions and layoffs occurring across the healthcare industry.

Providence spinout DexCare recently closed a $75 million Series C funding round, bringing its total funding to date to $146 million. The startup gives health systems a platform that helps them coordinate and manage digital care services so they can better address the modern healthcare consumer’s demands for convenience and immediacy.

Providence is cutting back on services at three of its Oregon facilities to brace for an upcoming nurses’ union strike. The Oregon Nurses Association has planned a five-day strike to fight for better staffing levels and working conditions.

Here is a selection of recent executive hires, promotions and layoffs occurring across the healthcare industry.

Providence recently launched a program to expand its patients’ access to in-home physical therapy. The health system is launching the initiative in partnership with Luna, a provider of in-home outpatient physical therapy that serves patients in nearly 30 states.

Sara Vaezy, Providence’s chief strategy and digital officer, thinks the definition of an integrated delivery system is going to change. In her view, health systems will be more successful if they let go of the notion that they can do it all.

Providence issued a response to a letter sent by Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, in which she demanded the health system answer questions about its alleged efforts to aggressively bill patients who qualified for free or discounted care. The response denied that Providence aggressively pursued its poorest patients for medical debt, asserting that its “commitment to those in need has never been stronger.”

Providence is investing $712 million into new facilities in Orange County, California. The health system is adding a new medical center in both San Clemente and Rancho Mission Viejo , as well as a new patient tower for Providence Mission Hospital.

Providence spun out Advata two weeks ago, and the startup, which has 30 customers and 150 employees, sells a suite of insights-focused data software products designed to improve population health and revenue cycle management.

America’s abysmal record on maternal care outcomes and equity has spurred the rise of startups as well as innovative strategies from providers and payers, each trying to solve a piece of the larger problem. But these entities will also need the help of policymakers to truly improve care in this arena.

As Covid-19 cases started escalating last April, providers in hotspot states, like New York, California and Washington, had to quickly pivot their IT plans. These are some of the decisions that five health IT leaders made — aside from expanding telehealth — that helped their health systems survive the first wave of the pandemic and beyond.

A new digital health company — spun out from Providence’s Digital Innovation Group — has raised $20 million in its first funding round. The company offers a platform that aims to help providers coordinate and manage digital care services.

The 51-hospital system and artificial intelligence company are building on their existing collaboration to deploy technology that will allow physicians to focus solely on their patients during visits.

A report by Kaufman Hall showed that while hospitals’ operating margins improved in July, they were down 96% since the start of the year. Including funding allocated through the CARES Act. Without CARES Act funding, hospital margins were still down 28%.

Providence posted a $221 million operating loss in the first half of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Washington-based health system saw patient volumes decline by 13% in the first six months.

Private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners announced it has acquired both businesses and plans to merge them under Virgin Pulse’s brand as part of a deal that’s expected to close by the end of the month.

Six years after the Providence, Rhode Island-based business got its start with a focus on the plush, robotic Jerry the Bear to help children newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Sproutel has moved into the pediatric cancer space in a collaboration with Aflac.

Seattle-based Xealth, a new startup out of Providence Health & Services, has nabbed $8.5 million in a round led by DFJ. The company’s platform lets physicians prescribe digital health content, apps and services.