News

The AHA urged Congress to revise the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 in the next COVID-19 relief package to reflect new insights from the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect of recent post-acute care payment system reforms.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., dismissed the AHA’s legal challenge to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ final rule mandating that hospitals disclose their privately negotiated charges with commercial health insurers. AHA plans to appeal on an expedited basis.

The Department of Health and Human Services said its Office of Minority Health will partner with the Morehouse School of Medicine to deliver education and resources on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on racial- and ethnic-minority, rural and socially vulnerable communities.

Hospitalization rates for COVID-19 were nearly four times higher for black, and two times higher for Hispanic, Medicare beneficiaries than for white Medicare beneficiaries, according to data on COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which featured officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Food and Drug Administration, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Students, employers and the general public can compare and evaluate graduate health care management programs with the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education’s new online search tool.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the first annual report evaluating the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced Model.

Beginning July 6, both traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans will cover diagnostic COVID-19

Clinical laboratories and health care providers should stop using any antibody tests on the Food and Drug Administration’s “removed” test list, evaluate prior results from the test and whether to retest the patient using an FDA-authorized test, the agency said.

A new study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows emergency department visits dropped by 23% for heart attacks, 20% for strokes and 10% for hyperglycemic crises in first 10 weeks after the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration. 

A study of the first 20,000 adults hospitalized with severe or life-threatening COVID-19 to receive convalescent plasma found the investigational therapy safe in this diverse group of patients, according to findings from the Food and Drug Administration’s Expanded Access Program for COVID-19 reported in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

House Democratic leaders released legislative text for the Moving Forward Act (H.R. 2), a more than $1.5 trillion plan to rebuild American infrastructure, including roads, bridges, transit, housing and health care. 

The Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve proposal to expand the Main Street Lending Program to nonprofit organizations, as advocated by AHA, has the potential to satisfy loan assistance needs for health care organizations ineligible for Paycheck Protection Program loans or for which PPP loan maximums are insufficient, the association said.

Among the many lessons we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is the critical importance of leadership.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory warning of an uptick over the last year in meningococcal disease in which isolates show the gene associated with penicillin resistance and mutations associated with ciprofloxacin resistance.

The Health Resources and Services Administration awarded 310 grants totaling $107.2 million for programs to develop and retain clinicians in rural, underserved and disadvantaged communities.

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Community Care recently launched a national emergency care contact center for emergency care received in non-VA facilities to simplify care coordination, eligibility determination and payment authorization information.

AHA recommended the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General clarify its proposed rule incorporating new authorities for civil monetary penalties for information blocking by health information developers, exchanges and networks, and not enforce the final rule until after the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The Department of Health and Human Services should develop a workforce target for the National Disaster Medical System to ensure it can effectively respond to the nation’s current and future needs, according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its health care facility operations guidance to reflect the current COVID-19 pandemic environment.