News

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra yesterday declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico due to flooding from Hurricane Fiona, and waived or modified certain Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program requirements to ensure sufficient health care items and services are available.

The House Ways and Means Committee today voted to advance to the full House bipartisan legislation (H.R. 8876) that would reauthorize the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, and double annual funding for the program to $800 million over five years.

AHA is continuing its annual work to help hospitals and health systems encourage their communities to stay healthy and protect themselves against the flu and COVID-19 through vaccination.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday recommended clinicians adhere to all recommendations to prevent monkeypox transmission in health care settings, including using the recommended personal protective equipment.

UnitedHealth Group may proceed with its proposal to acquire Change Healthcare, a federal district judge ruled yesterday. The Department of Justice, joined by Minnesota and New York, this year challenged the proposed merger, alleging that the $13 billion transaction would harm competition in commercial health insurance markets and in the market for a vital technology used to process claims and reduce health care costs

The communications protocol for the Medtronic MiniMed 600 Series Insulin Pump System could allow an unauthorized person to access the pump to deliver too much or too little insulin, the Food and Drug Administration alerted users today.

The AHA and American Medical Association today moved to dismiss their challenge to the federal government’s September 2021 interim final rule governing the No Surprises Act’s independent dispute resolution process. 

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) yesterday alerted the sector to a monkeypox-themed phishing campaign targeting health care providers.

The Department of Health and Human Services Friday released a roadmap for better integrating mental health and substance use care into health care, social service and early childhood systems.

An estimated 84% of pregnancy-related deaths in 36 states between 2017 and 2019 were preventable, according to a new CDC report based on data from interdisciplinary committees that review deaths during and up to one year after pregnancy. 

AHA will co-host a Sept. 27 Facebook Live event with AdventHealth on the importance of getting children vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19, which will also cover the new bivalent booster shots.

When you talk with hospital and health system leaders about their biggest challenges and opportunities, one theme continues to be at the top of their list — workforce.

In order to achieve this mission, hospitals must remain financially viable. But for many hospitals and health systems that’s becoming increasingly difficult as they manage the aftermath and aftershocks of the most significant public health crisis in a century, all of which occurs against the backdrop of historic workforce shortages, broken supply chains, and rabid inflation that has increased the cost of caring.

Cyber criminals are increasingly targeting health care payment processors to redirect payments intended for health care providers to accounts they control, costing victims millions of dollars, the FBI reported this week.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Trafficking in Persons yesterday released information to help health care administrators, procurement professionals and suppliers prevent and address forced labor concerns in supply chains through product procurement and labor contracting practices.

In-hospital mortality among patients hospitalized primarily for COVID-19 fell from 15.1% during the delta period to 4.9% this April through June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week. 

The risk of monkeypox to exposed health care personnel is “very low,” according to a report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As part of those efforts, we’ll be releasing radio spots that we recorded with state, metropolitan and regional hospital association executives this week and spotlighting case studies from hospitals describing the challenges they are facing.

AHA released an infographic on considerations for hospitals developing digital solutions to improve maternal care.

Monkeypox cases have dropped nearly 50% since early August, the White House said today, affirming the effectiveness of a national mitigation strategy where vaccination and education are used in tandem.