The White House on Tuesday announced the Biden administration plans to extend a moratorium on foreclosures for federally guaranteed mortgages and expand a federal program for mortgage forbearance, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Minnesota, and Texas.

• District of Columbia: The White House on Tuesday announced the Biden administration plans to extend a federal moratorium on foreclosures for federally guaranteed mortgages and expand a federal program for mortgage forbearance. According to a White House fact sheet, the program allows homeowners with federally backed mortgages to request a pause or reduction in mortgage payments through June 30. The White House also said the administration will offer "up to six months of additional mortgage payment forbearance, in three-month increments, for borrowers who" enrolled in the program on or before June 30, 2020 (Payne, Politico, 2/16; Thomas/Ackerman, Wall Street Journal, 2/16; White House fact sheet, 2/16).

• Minnesota: North Memorial Health announced Tuesday that it has named Bradford Newton as CIO, retroactively effective December 2020. Newton previously served as VP of IT administration and enterprise applications at Wellstar Health System and joined North Memorial in December 2020 (Gooch, Becker's Hospital Review, 2/17).

• Texas: Members of the North Texas Jeep Club have provided 1,000 no-cost rides to health care workers to and from work amid a winter storm that recently passed through the state. The initiative is a partnership between the Jeep Club, DFW Scanner, and Potts Law Firm. DFW Scanner on Friday asked health care workers to sign up for the program on Twitter, and according to John Burgdorf, DFW Scanner's owner, they received 600 submissions in less than 24 hours (Plasencia, KCEN, 2/15).