A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that Juul would be allowed to keep its products on the market while it appeals FDA's sales ban, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, the District of Columbia, and Virginia.

• California: Juul on Friday filed an emergency motion with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia after FDA on Thursday said that the company must stop all sales on its vaping device and its tobacco and menthol-flavored products. In the emergency motion, Juul asked the court to pause what it called an "extraordinary and unlawful action" by FDA. On Friday, the court granted a temporary reprieve, ruling that the company would be allowed to keep selling its products for at least another two weeks while the court reviews its broader request for an emergency stay. While the ruling signifies a setback for the FDA, the appeals court emphasized that the temporary stay "should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits" of Juul's lawsuit. (AP/NPR, 6/24; Florko, STAT News, 6/24; Richtel et al., New York Times, 6/24)

• District of Columbia: In a 336-85 vote, the House on Wednesday passed the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Health Act—a bill that will create a new health agency, called the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health (ARPA-H) within HHS. The new agency will focus on fast-tracking biomedical innovation to help identify new ways to detect and treat a variety of conditions, including cancer. According to the legislation, the goal of the agency is to "foster the development of new, breakthrough capabilities, technologies, systems, and platforms to accelerate innovations in health and medicine that are not being met by Federal programs or private entities." (Schnell, The Hill, 6/22)

• Virginia: Sentara Healthcare on Friday named Dennis Matheis as its new president and CEO, effective Sept. 1. Matheis, who has served as the president of Sentara Health Plans and EVP of Sentara Healthcare since 2018, succeeds Howard Kern, who will retire by the end of 2022 after working with the health system for more than 40 years. Before joining Sentara Healthcare, Matheis served as SVP and president of central region and exchanges for Anthem. He has also worked for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri, Cigna, Humana, and Advocate Health Care. "Dennis is consistently innovating and thinking about ways to increase access to quality care, achieve greater success and outcomes, and develop new services to improve each patient's and member's individual experience with health and wellness services," said Allan Parrott, chair of Sentara Healthcare's board. (Kacik, Modern Healthcare, 6/24)