Houston Methodist is currently evaluating nearly 75 patients who were in the care of Memorial Hermann before their liver and kidney transplant programs shut down this month for internal and federal investigations.

The legislation, which Republican lawmakers have been trying to pass since 2021, offers no exceptions for doctors’ offices, clinics or other health facilities.

In the latest U.S. News & World Report’s Honor Roll, Houston Methodist Hospital was named in the best hospitals in the country ranking for the seventh time and tied for the No. 1 hospital in Texas.

A hazmat incident has shut down the emergency room at Houston Methodist Hospital in Baytown Friday afternoon, officials with Baytown Fire said.

A judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday filed by a former Houston Methodist doctor.

A physician who had her privileges suspended from Houston Methodist Hospital is filing a massive lawsuit.

As more people receive COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, some people with a compromised immune system or a history of bad reactions to vaccines may need alternate options.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had called the mandate “an unprecedented federal vaccine decree” on health care workers.

Touted as one of the best weapons in the battle to survive Covid 19

Doctors at Houston Methodist Hospital have discovered cases of a new variant of COVID-19 among patients being treated for the virus, the hospital confirmed Monday to KPRC 2.

Houston Methodist is renewing its call for recovered COVID-19 patients to donate convalescent plasma.

The Houston Methodist Hospital has temporarily changed its visitor policy due to the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases.

Here are things to know for Tuesday, July 20:

Houston Methodist Hospital says it is seeing an “alarming spike” in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across the Houston area.

More than 170 Houston Methodist employees were suspended without pay for the next 14-days after not complying with the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

Several Houston Methodist nurses and employees protested the vaccine requirement that goes into effect after Monday, June 7.

Last year, Houston’s health leaders were stocking up supplies on personal protective equipment, which was hard to come by.

Virtual learning, severed social ties, and mental health complications on the rise are all difficulties teenagers were faced with during the pandemic.

Houston Methodist Hospital is now offering walk-in vaccines at all seven of its vaccine clinics.

HOUSTON – Houston Methodist Hospital becomes one of the first big hospitals to make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for everyone who works there. “As part of Houston Methodist management, we must lead by example and get vaccinated ourselves. At Houston Methodist, we’ve made a commitment to offer our patients unparalleled safety, quality, service and innovation. You now have until April 15 to receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or get an approved exemption. “The number of our employees getting sick with COVID has greatly reduced as the number of vaccines has increased,” Hackett said.

HOUSTON – Andrew Capen, 33, is the recipient of a miraculous double lung transplant after battling COVID-19. Houston Methodist Hospital said he is one of the longest surviving patients on ECMO, a machine that basically works in place of your lungs once they’ve been so damaged they won’t work anymore. Capen survived on ECMO for six months before receiving new lungs. While the end result is wonderful, Capen said it was a dark, lonely time in the hospital leading up to it. His surgeon, surgical director of lung transplantation at Houston Methodist Dr. Eddie Suarez, said it’s a difficult operation under normal circumstances but because Capen’s health was deteriorating it was almost impossible.

HOUSTON – Tens of thousands of additional coronavirus vaccines are headed to the Houston area this week. More than 60,000 doses will be sent to vaccine hubs in the Houston area. The Houston Health Department said nearly 6,400 doses will go to the department’s Area Agency on Aging. City and state leaders came together Saturday to discuss vaccination distribution efforts in high risk and vulnerable communities. AdMayor Sylvester Turner said the city plans to fight racial inequities and disparity by targeting minority communities in vaccine distribution.

HOUSTON – On Friday, Houston Methodist Hospital answered questions about the vaccine rollout during a virtual town hall. Health experts covered a range of topics but wanted to focus on helping educate communities of color about COVID-19. They have programs in the works, that include partnering with minority organizations and churches in to help spread the word about the vaccine. “Really the goal is to bring death down and ultimately control the pandemic,” said Dr. Marc Boom, the president and CEO of Houston Methodist. Arianne Dowdell, VP and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, was the moderator of the town hall.

HOUSTON – Houston Methodist Hospital, the largest vaccine provider in Texas at the moment, is no longer taking COVID-19 vaccine appointments after slots have been filled shortly after launching Monday. The public vaccine sign-up went live Monday afternoon. We have had an overwhelming response, and due to the limited vaccine supply, we unfortunately have no more appointments available at the present time. “Then we go into, kind of targeting zip codes, to make sure we’re reaching all of Houston.”Patient databases include anyone with any connection to Houston Methodist. Anyone who has visited the emergency room or any employed or private doctors, or who has undergone any test at a Houston Methodist facility.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a roundtable discussion and deliver remarks alongside health care professionals on Tuesday at Houston Methodist Hospital.

HOUSTON – Houston Methodist Hospital was organizing a vaccination event on Saturday and said it worked with state officials to find those who need it most. “We’ve already vaccinated over 41,000 Houstonians and so we’re proud of that,” said Cathy Easter, Senior Vice President of Community Development at Methodist Hospital. Methodist Hospital plans to vaccinate 4,000 more people on Saturday. Memorial Hermann opening vaccine clinic at NRG ParkMemorial Hermann is set to open a coronavirus vaccine clinic at NRG Park this week and opened registration for appointments to the public. On Wednesday evening, officials said all available appointments for Memorial Hermann’s vaccine clinic at NRG Park are full.

HOUSTON – Houston Methodist Hospital, UTMB in Galveston, Ben Taub, Memorial Herman, and Texas Children’s Hospital all say they plan to begin vaccinations next week. “Our personnel are ready to accept vaccines as early as this weekend, should it arrive, but we probably anticipate it arriving on Monday or Tuesday,” said Roberta Schwartz, executive VP of Houston Methodist. Memorial Hermann said with two effective vaccines likely coming to their doorstep, they’ll eventually be able to vaccinate every employee. Key dates:- Dec. 14 is when the state says they could begin rolling out the Pfizer vaccine to hospitals. AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are two other companies that could be following close behind them but they have yet to apply for EUA.

HOUSTON – The Houston Methodist Hospital is now administering the FDA emergency use authorization drug, bamlanivimab. There are three sites where the hospital offers monoclonal antibody infusions: Houston Methodist Hospital at the Texas Medical Center, Houston Methodist Sugar Land and Houston Methodist Continuing Care Facility near the West campus in Katy. Since the hospital system started this therapy on Friday, they said 50 patients have been treated. Sandy Zeluff said she was one of the first patients to receive this treatment. After her symptoms were getting progressively worse last week, she says she made a recovery within a day of infusion.

HOUSTON – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has fast-tracked a promising drug to treat COVID-19 patients and it is in trial at Houston Methodist Hospital. The drug is called RLF-100 and is also known as aviptadil. It has been approved by the FDA for emergency use at multiple clinical sites in patients who are too ill to enter the FDA’s Phase 2/3 trials. According to a press release from the drug maker NeuroRX, independent researchers have reported that aviptadil blocked replication of the SARS coronavirus in human lung cells and monocytes. The drug has been successful in reducing lung inflammation and so the FDA now says any doctor at any hospital can request this treatment to help severely ill COVID-19 patients.

HOUSTON – If Harris County continues on the same new case trajectory as it is on at present, Houston could become the worst affected city in the U.S., according to nationally recognized infectious disease expert, Dr. Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine. In a tweet Saturday morning, Hotez said if things continue as they are, Harris County could rival the situation that is currently being seen in Brazil. Finally, his third prediction in his tweet was that the county “would need to proceed to red alert.” As of Sunday night, Harris County is listed at Orange Level 2 on the COVID-19 Threat Level System. Current situation in Harris CountyHouston and Harris County saw a steady increase in cases and hospitalizations last week and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo called the county the “epicenter” of the virus in Texas. In a Friday press conference, Houston Health Authority Dr. David Persse said that Houston and Harris County was not experiencing a second wave of the virus.

Across the Texas Medical Center, 18% of all ICU beds are being used by COVID-19 patients and 43% from non-COVID-19 patients. While they are still waiting to see a possible surge in cases, Houston Methodist Hospital said they're down 75% in the emergency room department. “Hospitals are very well equipped in separating patients with suspected COVID versus the other emergencies that we have dealt with,” Zoghbi said. Even the CDC is reporting flu data comparisons from 2019 to 2020 should be interpreted with caution because they say people staying home during this pandemic are prohibiting them from keeping an accurate count of flu cases. On the other hand, Shane Magee, MD, from Kelsey-Seybold Clinic said flu cases are simply down this year.

HOUSTON – Like many local hospitals, Houston Methodist Hospital opened a special unit to treat critically ill coronavirus patients. They’re calling it the “Coronavirus ICU,” and right now there is a revolving door of 88 patients total in the Houston Methodist system, 24 patients at the Texas Medical Center campus. Nurses working inside the unit said when they manage to discharge one, the next patient comes in. The Texas Nurses Association supports what Carnahan and Catalan said, the number of patients has remained relatively low considering the size of Houston. Houston Methodist Hospital says their ICUs across all eight campuses are at 70% capacity.

HOUSTON – A Houston woman is mourning the death of her parents after they died within hours of one another. Abdul Ahad Wahab, 74, and Tazroon Wahab, 71, both died at Houston Methodist Hospital in Sugar Land from complications related to Coronavirus, according to Waheeda Hussain, the couple’s daughterHussain said her parents moved to Houston in January to be closer to family. As she recovers, she is also mourning the loss of her parents. There was nothing we could ever do that would be wrong.”Hussain said her parents decline was quick. Coronavirus is taking lives,” Hussain said.

Houston Methodist Hospital is one of them. The news was disappointing for Michael McBride, who is awaiting a kidney transplant. But his kidney transplant was derailed again in 2019, when his donor, Kris, was diagnosed with breast cancer. “My first thought when it happened was not ‘oh my gosh, I have breast cancer’… it was, ‘oh my gosh, no transplant’,” Kris McBride said. Transplant Center at Houston Methodist Hospital.

HOUSTON – A hundred-thousand people insured by UnitedHealthcare are scrambling to find new doctors and hospitals after the insurance company and Houston Methodist Hospital could not come to terms over reimbursement rates. The contract expired at midnight, meaning the seven Houston Methodist hospitals and its outpatient clinics are no longer in-network as of Jan. 1, 2020. "90%, probably more than that, of the doctors (in Baytown) are Methodist doctors," Thompson said. UnitedHealthcare released the following statement:“Care at Houston Methodist Hospital is significantly more expensive than care at other top-ranked hospitals in Texas as well as some of the most prestigious hospitals in the entire country. United’s unfortunate decision – and disruption to their members’ in-network access to Houston Methodist -- is forcing employers and consumers to pick different health care options for this year.