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The labor union representing 24,000 Kaiser Permanente employees is pausing participation in its labor-management partnership with the integrated health system and is prepared to ask its members to vote on a strike, union leaders said Friday. The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, which includes registered nurses, pharmacists, rehab therapists, midwives and optometrists, also said the landmark labor-management partnership created in 1997 is "on life support." (Christ, 9/17)

U.S. health authorities plan to spend $2.1 billion to improve infection prevention and control across American health care, by far the largest single such outlay in the country’s history. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to distribute the funds over the next several years to health departments and medical providers, including hospitals and nursing homes. The money was authorized as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan President Joe Biden signed in March. Money will begin flowing as soon as October to help bolster staff at nursing homes stretched by Covid-19 cases and labor shortages, the CDC said. (Tozzi, 9/17)

Stanford Health Care’s new chief information officer is balancing support to caregivers while continuing to advance the organization’s digital transformation. Michael Pfeffer, the former CIO at UCLA Health Sciences in Los Angeles, joined Stanford Health Care on Aug. 1. Dr. Pfeffer succeeds Eric Yablonka, who retired in May after more than three years in the role. (McCormick, 9/16)

Detroit Medical Center CEO Audrey Gregory is leaving the organization after two years at the helm of the investor-owned hospital on Oct. 22. DMC said Thursday afternoon that Gregory will become president and CEO of a health system in central Florida. She will be replaced on an interim basis by Brittany Lavis, the organization's CFO. Gregory joined DMC in October 2019 as president, and CEO of DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital, DMC Harper University Hospital, DMC Heart Hospital and DMC Hutzel Women's Hospital. Prior to that, she was market CEO of DMC parent company Tenet Healthcare's Saint Francis Healthcare System in Memphis, Tenn. and CEO of St. Francis Hospital - Memphis. (Pinho, 9/17)

Percy Allen II always tried to honor those who propelled his career in healthcare by encouraging young administrators. Allen, a longtime healthcare executive known for building morale at financially troubled healthcare organizations, spent much of his time in recent years taking calls from emerging leaders seeking his advice, his wife Fay Allen said." He advocated for people of color to be part of this diverse world and for them to be a part of this corporate system," Fay Allen said. "They all learned from Percy's example and emulated some of his ideas and thoughts about equality at the corporate level for people of color." (Kacik and Ross Johnson, 9/17)