A White House official estimated that the federal government could spend up to $22 million a month testing unvaccinated federal workers, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Illinois, and Minnesota.

• District of Columbia: Deputy director for the White House Office of Management and Budget Jason Miller warned that the federal government could spend up to $22 million a month testing unvaccinated employees if the ban on President Joe Biden's Covid-19 vaccine mandate is not lifted. "While most federal civilian employees are fully vaccinated, hundreds of thousands of them are not vaccinated," Miller said. According to Miller, the federal government is no longer able to require vaccines for the roughly 20,000 new workers it hires every month. In particular, Miller said this requirement "could cost taxpayers on the order of $11 million to $22 million each month, or $33 million to $65 million each quarter." If the block on the vaccine mandate is upheld, "it will imperil the federal government's ability to protect the health and safety of the federal workforce," according to Miller. (Choi, The Hill, 2/15)

• Illinois: Loyola Medical Group on Tuesday announced that Alexander Ghanayem had been appointed as its new CMO. Ghanayem, who joined Loyola Medicine in 1995, currently serves as chair of the department of orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation, which he has led since 2016. "Dr. Ghanayem's leadership has helped establish Loyola Medicine as a nationally recognized center for education, research and patient care in orthopedics," said Richard Freeman, EVP and regional chief clinical officer for Loyola. "We are confident that his significant contributions will continue in his new role leading our physician group." (Gleeson, Becker's Hospital Review, 2/15)

• Minnesota: Bright Health Group on Friday announced that Simeon Schindelman will resign from his position as CEO of Bright HealthCare. Schindelman will be replaced by CFO Jay Matushak, who will step into the role on an interim basis while the company searches for a permanent CEO. The company's market-facing businesses, NeueHealth and Bright HealthCare, provide care delivery and value-based services to over 400,000 patients. They also provide commercial and Medicare health plans to more than 1 million consumers in 17 states. (Devereaux, Modern Healthcare, 2/15)