A woman whose father died at Brigham and Women's Hospital after a heart transplant in 2017 blames the hospital and the as yet unknown company that made the water-filtration system the hospital used in the cardiac unit where he was supposed to be recovering. Read more.

The Globe reports the financial crisis at the company that owns St. Elizabeth's - and Carney Hospital in Dorchester - can have direct patient impact, like when a woman is bleeding internally but the hospital no longer had the embolization coils that might have stopped the bleeding because it couldn't pay for them, and she has to be transferred across the city to another hospital, but by then it's too late and she dies.

Gov. Healey announced today that that Massachusetts health-care providers have started stockpiling mifepristone in advance of potential judicial action to ban its sale, despite 20 years of use showing its safer than many other drugs, including Viagra, but nobody is talking about denying men a right to erections. Read more.

Ryan Grannan-Doll reports:

Just tried to pickup meds at CVS in Newtonville. Pharmacist told me CVS computer network is down NATIONWIDE. No Rx filling or selling. No timeline for fix.

MIT News reports on efforts at the Institute to study the human microbiome - all the zillions of microorganisms that cohabit in your body - to see if there are ways to improve human health. One example: Microorganisms living in the digestive tract have been linked to several diseases, including Type 2 diabetes, several cancers and Alzheimer's.

As he has done for several days now, Gov. Baker used part of his daily press conference today to urge people with non-Covid-19 health issues to call their doctors or 911. But this time, he was joined by executives at three hospitals, who reported many people are trying to wait out symptoms at home, which means they eventually come into the hospital far sicker - and sometimes beyond help. Read more.

The Globe reports Brigham and Women's Hospital has offered voluntary buyouts to 1,600 workers.

Separately, the hospital and parent Partners Healthcare have agreed to pay the federal government $10 million to resolve fraud allegations involving "manipulated and falsified information" used by three Brigham doctors to obtain federal stem-cell research grants.

The cancer center reports it now has less than a day's worth of O-negative blood and is looking for folks with that type who could make a donation.

Hopkinton's only drugstore is suing CVS, alleging the national pharmacy giant is trying to muscle into the town by cutting off a key part of its business.

In a lawsuit filed this week in US District Court, Hopkinton Drug alleges the CVS wing that administers pharmacy benefits for many employers is refusing to do any more business with the store as part of an "unlawful civil conspiracy" with the CVS wing that runs retail outlets, in an attempt to break into the Hopkinton pharmacy market.