News

The Department of Health and Human Services today announced a $1.1 billion public-private partnership to help maintain access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatment for uninsured individuals through pharmacies, health centers and state and local public health departments after the federal government no longer pays for or distributes them, a transition expected this fall.

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee today held a legislative hearing on federal programs to strengthen the health care workforce and primary care.

Nicole Stallings will be the next president and CEO of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, it was announced.

On April 24 at the AHA Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C., the AHA will present its 2023 Award of Honor to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi for her efforts to advance health care. Pelosi was a central figure in development and passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

The Healthcare Sector Coordinating Council and Department of Health and Human Services released a report benchmarking best practices and opportunities for improvement in hospital cyber resiliency.

About 84% of hospitals had posted a machine-readable file containing rate information by the end of first-quarter 2023, up from 65% the previous quarter, according to a report released by Turquoise Health.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized using a single dose of the Moderna or Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for primary vaccination as well as for future doses. Under today’s amended emergency use authorizations, the monovalent Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized for use in the United States. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its standards for qualified health plans offered through the health insurance marketplaces for 2024. CMS finalized with limited exceptions its proposal to require all plans (regardless of marketplace type) to comply with network adequacy and enhanced essential community provider standards, and add to the ECP standards mental health and substance use disorder treatment facilities, beginning in plan year 2024.

AHA recently launched the Quality Collective, an exclusive peer-to-peer learning hub for health care quality leaders. 

The Food and Drug Administration last week required certain labeling updates for opioid pain medicines in an effort to reduce unnecessary prescribing and prevent complications such as opioid-induced hyperalgesia, when an opioid causes an increase in pain or increased sensitivity to pain.

On April 24 at its Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C., AHA will recognize Jim Hinton, former president and CEO of Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health, with its 2023 Justin Ford Kimball Innovators Award.

The Department of Health and Human Services today released Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices: Managing Threats and Protecting Patients, which outlines the top five threats facing the health care sector and 10 practices to combat them. 

The AHA, joined by the Arkansas Hospital Association and 340B Health, late Friday filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit defending Arkansas’ 340B Drug Pricing Nondiscrimination Act against a constitutional challenge brought by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

On this episode, I talk with Marcos Pesquera, system vice president for community health and chief diversity officer at CHRISTUS Health, headquartered in Irving, Texas.

Wendell Primus, former senior health policy advisor to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, will receive the AHA Honorary Life Membership Award April 24 at the AHA Annual Membership Meeting for his outstanding contributions to advancing health care in America.

The Department of Health and Human Services plans this month to propose amending the definition of “lawful presence” for purposes of Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage to allow undocumented immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as “Dreamers,” to apply for coverage through Medicaid and the Health Insurance Marketplace and qualify for Marketplace subsidies based on income, the White House announced yesterday.

Labor costs and volume disruptions drove declines in operating margins for nonprofit hospitals and health systems in fiscal 2022, Moody’s Investors Service reported yesterday based on preliminary medians data from 132 health systems.

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) today approved four recommendations to Congress that would amend the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital program.

The Department of Health and Human Services plans to amend its Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act declaration for COVID-19 to extend liability protections for certain COVID-19 countermeasure activities beyond the May 11 end of the public health emergency, the agency announced today.

As urged by the AHA, the U.S. Supreme Court today unanimously reversed a 9th Circuit decision that impliedly stripped federal district courts of jurisdiction over constitutional challenges to the Federal Trade Commission structure, procedures and existence.