News and Notes

Launched in 2025 with an inaugural class of 243 students across seven high schools and 11 middle schools in six Northeast Tennessee school districts, the Ballad Health Academy serves as both a unique career development program for high school students across the Appalachian Highlands and as a forward-thinking strategy to address workforce shortages in healthcare by creating local talent pipelines. Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the program takes an innovative school-within-a-school approach to create accelerated pathways from high school into healthcare careers.

Water vapor technology applies the thermal energy stored in sterile water vapor to ablate targeted prostate tissue via a transurethral procedure, potentially minimizing life-altering side effects.

Med Tech Solutions (MTS), a provider of managed healthcare IT services, recently announced the acquisition of Avarion, a two-time Best in KLAS HIT Advisory firm serving hospitals, health systems and care networks. The acquisition accelerates MTS’ growth as a managed service provider supporting the full continuum of care, from ambulatory and community-based care settings to complex acute care environments.

Olympus Corporation (Olympus), a global MedTech company committed to advancing endoscopy-enabled care, today announced it has signed an exclusive global distribution agreement with EndoRobotics Co., Ltd. Under this agreement, robot-assisted technologies manufactured by EndoRobotics will be distributed globally by Olympus exclusively as part of its EndoTherapy portfolio.

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Letter to Health Care Providers to notify providers that we are aware that the United States is experiencing interruptions in the supply of neurosurgical patties, sponges and strip devices because of recent supplier issues. The FDA also updated the medical device shortage list to include neurosurgical patties, sponges and strip devices (product code HBA).