Note that some links may require registration or subscription.

The Physician Fee Schedule proposed 2022 conversion factor — the number that determines how much physicians will be paid for treating Medicare fee-for-service patients — is $33.58, a decrease of $1.31 from the CY 2021 conversion factor of $34.89, CMS announced. Look for more on this st0ry in MedPage Today later today.

Tennessee halted vaccine outreach to teens for all vaccines, not just for COVID-19, and fired its top-ranking vaccination official, and the American Academy of Pediatrics panned both decisions. (The Tennessean, AAP.org)

Pulmonary embolisms were found in 25% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients who were suspected of having them, according to a study published in Radiology.

Anthony Fauci, MD, and Deborah Birx, MD, members of former President Trump’s coronavirus task force, warned about the dangers of adviser Scott Atlas, MD, last summer, saying that he was “providing information not based on data or knowledge of pandemics.” (BuzzFeed News)

As of about 8 a.m. ET, the estimated COVID-19 toll in the U.S. included 33,916,927 cases and 607,786 deaths, increases of 26,094 and 344, respectively, since the same time a day ago.

A coalition of healthcare groups is calling on medical facilities to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for their workers. (Washington Post)

Can doctors insist on telehealth-only visits for adult patients who decline to be vaccinated for COVID-19? No, says medical ethicist Kwame Anthony Appiah. (New York Times)

In related news, some states are winding down easy access to these telehealth visits. (STAT)

Nothing faster than “Call Me Maybe”: South Korea has banned fast music and fast running in gyms located in Seoul and nearby areas in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (NPR)

The FDA okayed an accelerated dosing schedule for AVM Biotechnology’s clinical trial of its novel non-Hodgkin’s leukemia/lymphoma drug AVM0703, the company announced.

A Kaiser Permanente branch in California is making it overly difficult for patients with postpartum depression to get coverage for IV treatment, brexanolone. (NPR/Kaiser Health News)

President Biden will nominate Rahul Gupta, MD to run the Office of National Drug Control Policy — and this first-ever physician nominee for the job is getting mixed reviews. (New York Times)

More than 90 people died in a fire at an Iraqi hospital that was treating COVID-19 patients. (CNN)

Mississippi health officials are concerned about a potential surge of younger people with severe COVID-19; seven children are currently in ICUs in the state — two of them on ventilators. (ABC News)

Is it a cold or COVID-19? New variants of the coronavirus may look more like bad colds, health experts say. (Deseret News)

Frequent use of lye-based hair relaxers and straighteners may increase risk of breast cancer in Black women compared with more moderate use, a 25-year-long study found. (Raw Story)