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Healthcare providers will be required to account for how they spent COVID-19 relief grants by February 2021, HHS quietly announced on Monday. When lawmakers established the $175 billion Provider Relief Fund, one of the stipulations was that healthcare providers receiving large grants would have to submit quarterly reports to HHS and to an oversight commission on their spending, starting on July 10. But HHS delayed that reporting deadline last month and said providers wouldn't have to submit quarterly reports. (Cohrs, 7/22)

Unrest is spreading among Beaumont Health doctors as the hospital system's board of directors considers a possible merger with a large out-of-state hospital system. A no-confidence petition is now circulating among some doctors who are upset with the leadership of Beaumont CEO John Fox and Chief Medical Officer David Wood Jr. and the prospect of the merger with Advocate Aurora Health, a 28-hospital nonprofit system in Illinois and Wisconsin. (Reindl, 7/22)

Hospitals in northwest Houston are cohorting COVID-19 patients to their own areas in hospitals and contracting more workers from around the country as they work to keep up with the rising cases of coronavirus. Health care professionals endeavor to prevent further spread while handling their usual day-to-day workloads. (Pryce, 7/22)

Shareholders of Community Health Systems and its spinoff Quorum Health Corp. have asked for preliminary approval of an $18 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit accusing the hospital chains and several executives of artificially inflating stock prices through misleading statements. The litigation stems from several shareholder lawsuits related to Quorum's 2016 spinoff from CHS. The complaint, filed that year in a Tennessee federal court, alleges that Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum didn't disclose that its hospitals were underperforming and as a result its public statements were false, among other accusations. (Kacik, 7/22)

San Francisco startup Hims & Hers took a further step into the mental health realm on Thursday, rolling out a new service that connects people with providers who can prescribe and manage common medications for depression and anxiety. The new feature is part of a broader recent push by the company as it works to position itself as a full-service telemedicine provider. (Brodwin, 7/23)

Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA, the country's largest for-profit hospital operator, landed well above analysts' expectations for the second quarter, which is widely expected to be a dud for hospitals given elective procedures were largely shut off throughout April and into May. HCA's higher profit was partly from government stimulus money combined with 16.6% lower expenses—a decline that would be striking even in normal times. HCA's supply costs fell 17.5% year-over-year in the second quarter, and labor costs fell almost 9% in that time. (Bannow, 7/22)