CVS Health and Medable are partnering to improve access, engagement, and retention for clinical trials at select MinuteClinic locations, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, Rhode Island, Utah, and Virginia.

• California/Rhode Island: CVS Health and Medable on Monday announced a partnership aimed at improving access, engagement, and retention for clinical trials at select MinuteClinic locations. CVS Health Clinical Trial Services will manage the partnership using Medable's software platform to help improve patient recruitment, clinical trial delivery, and evidence generation. Notably, less than 4% of Americans participate in clinical trials, and roughly 30% of participants leave a trial before it is complete. In addition, about 80% of clinical trials fail to meet their enrollment deadlines. "Our mission is to bring effective therapies to all patients, regardless of where they live, their social status, or race. This collaboration intends to bridge research and science into communities with local access and experience that builds greater trust in health and medicine," said Sans Thakur, chief growth officer at Medable. "Practical applications of Medable technology with the reach and experience of CVS Health gives us an opportunity to harness this time of change and respond differently to unmet needs in local communities." (Business Wire, 2/7; Minemyer, Fierce Healthcare, 2/7; Lovett, Mobi Health News, 2/7; Schroeder, MedCity News, 2/7)

• Utah: State health officials on Sunday announced that they would no longer offer residents rapid Covid-19 tests after an analysis found that the GenBody tests used at state mobile clinics often produced false negatives. In their analysis, state officials found that among 18,000 people who had received traditional PCR tests and rapid tests manufactured by GenBody, more than half the times a PCR test produced a positive result, the GenBody swab generated a negative result. "While rapid antigen tests are known to be less likely to identify a positive individual, the difference identified in this analysis was higher than expected," the department said. According to Leisha Nolen, Utah's state epidemiologist, the false negatives do not seem to be correlated with specific variants. Currently, the state continues to use Abbott's BinaxNOW tests, which are provided by the federal government for use in high-risk settings where routine testing is advised. (AP/Modern Healthcare, 2/7)

• Virginia: The Virginia Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed against Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) by parents against his executive order making masks optional in schools. In the ruling, the judges said they could not issue writs of mandamus to prevent the Chesapeake School Board from making mask-wearing optional because such relief could not be issued in the case, Axios reports. However, they clearly stated that they were not ruling on the legality of the case, potentially allowing for future litigation. "The governor and I are pleased with today's ruling," said Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. According to Miyares, former Gov. Ralph Northam (D) "used his broad emergency powers to close places of worship, private businesses, and schools and impose a statewide mask mandate." (Gonzalez, Axios, 2/7)