News

Stand up. Speak out. Be heard. The stakes for the future of health care are too high to do anything less.

U.S.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services April 19 approved an amendment to a Massachusetts Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program demonstration to add health-related social needs services; expand Marketplace subsidies and cost-sharing assistance; provide pre-release services to eligible incarcerated beneficiaries; and expand continuous eligibility to 24 months for older adults experiencing homelessness and 12 months for other adults.

In clinical trials involving 220,000 patients at 59 HCA Healthcare hospitals, algorithm-driven computerized alerts helped clinicians better identify the appropriate antibiotic for 28% of patients with pneumonia and 17% of patients with urinary tract infections, according to studies funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published April 19 in JAMA.

Racial and ethnic health disparities persist across the United States, even in states with otherwise high-performing health systems, according to the latest Commonwealth Fund report evaluating states based on certain health and health care access measures.

Patients went out-of-network 3.5 times more often to see a behavioral health clinician than a medical/surgical clinician in 2021, and up to 20 times more often for certain behavioral health visits, according to a new study by RTI International.

The Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department and Department of Health and Human Services April 18 launched HealthyCompetition.gov, an online portal for the public to report potentially unfair and anticompetitive health care practices.

The Department of Health and Human Services April 18 finalized its rule to establish a 340B Administrative Dispute Resolution process as required under the Affordable Care Act.

Mary Marran, president and CEO of Butler Hospital, describes how the enhanced partnership between the two mental health service providers in Rhode Island has made a big difference in coordinating services and resources for their patients.

At its Annual Membership Meeting this week in Washington, D.C., AHA presented two federal hospital leaders with 2023 awards recognizing their outstanding service to the health care field.

“Imagine if the government required health insurance and drug companies to account for every dollar they spent, audit those data, and publicly report those numbers,” write AHA’s Bharath Krishnamurthy, director of health analytics and policy, and Aaron Wesolowski, vice president of research strategy and policy communications.

In a statement submitted to the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee for a hearing April 17 on President Biden’s fiscal year 2025 Health and Human Services’ budget request, AHA expressed concern about proposed new penalties for hospitals and health systems that do not meet what the Administration defines as essential cybersecurity practices.

Challenging prior authorization policy requirements were addressed in an AHA Annual Membership Meeting panel discussion moderated by Marilyn Werber Serafini, executive director for the Health Program at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

It's always important to bring the issue back to the patient, said Sarah Lechner, senior vice president and chief of external affairs for Hackensack Meridian Health, during a Q&A about building relationships with elected officials when advocating for hospitals and health systems at AHA's 2024 Annual Meeting April 14-16.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen, M.D., April 16 shared with attendees of AHA’s 2024 Annual Membership Meeting how her team is preparing the nation for the next public health emergency, highlighting how hospitals’ ability to provide the CDC with timely data is already positioning the nation for future success.

Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm addressed AHA Annual Membership Meeting attendees about the Administration’s work to improve access to care and increase the number of people with health insurance, as well as the Change Healthcare cyberattack and what cybersecurity looks like in the future.

Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., addressed attendees of AHA’s 2024 Annual Membership Meeting and touched on many of the biggest issues in health care: cybersecurity; prior authorization and denials of care; extensions for expiring telehealth provisions; and how government and hospitals can work together to find solutions to these and other problems.

Three retiring members of Congress — Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., and Dan Kildee, D-Mich. — engaged in a genial conversation that covered the current state of Congress, as well as what they view as the major issues and possible solutions facing health care.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., April 16 updated AHA members on progress to extend telehealth waivers, offering hope that a solution will arise in end-of-year legislation that Congress will attempt to pass.

As hospital leaders prepared to meet with their lawmakers on April 16 following the conclusion of the AHA's 2024 Annual Meeting, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., urged hospitals to speak up about the challenges and realities they face, particularly as they contend with crippling workforce shortages nationwide.