News

Six national organizations representing hospitals, including the AHA, urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to delay the start of repayments associated with the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Programs. The first hospitals and health systems to receive accelerated payments are scheduled to start repaying them soon.

A blog co-authored by Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president of AHA’s Physician Alliance and interim executive lead of AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, and Derek Robinson, M.D., vice president and chief medical officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, highlights the 13 newly announced Illinois-based hospitals who are AHA and BCBSIL’s recipients of health equity grants.

The Cleveland Clinic will partner with the Health Education Campus of Case Western Reserve University to host on Tuesday, Sept. 29, the first presidential debate between presumptive nominees Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced.

A new AHA issue brief outlines five actions that hospitals and health systems can take to address housing instability and improve health in their communities during COVID-19.

Kittitas Valley Healthcare in Ellensburg, Wash., was among the nation’s first hospitals to feel the impact of COVID-19.

The Food and Drug Administration issued emergency use authorizations to Xiamen Biotime Biotechnology Co. and Access Bio Inc. for serology-based tests to detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies indicating recent or prior infection.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation signed a letter of interest to provide a $765 million loan to Eastman Kodak Company to repurpose and expand its facilities in Rochester, N.Y., and St. Paul, Minn., to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients in short supply.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority issued a $265 million task order reserving vaccine manufacturing capacity through December 2021 at an advanced manufacturing center in Texas.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released an updated snapshot of the impact of COVID-19 on the Medicare population, which includes COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations through June 20 and the first data for American Indian/Alaskan Native Medicare beneficiaries.

The National Association of Medicaid Directors asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to suspend finalizing the Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Rule while states respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on state budgets.

Senate Republicans released a series of bills aimed at addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AHA announced it is honoring five hospital-led partnerships with the AHA Dick Davidson NOVA Award for each program’s efforts to improve community health.

Leaders of the Black Maternal Health Caucus virtually convened the second annual Stakeholder Summit, where members of Congress and supporting organizations urged passage of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act (H.R. 6142/S. 3424) to end preventable maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, and eliminate disparities in maternal health outcomes.

President Trump signed three executive orders aimed at lowering the price of prescription drugs, with actions targeting federally qualified health center insulin and EpiPen discounts; the importation and re-importation of prescription drugs from foreign countries; and drug manufacturer rebates and discounts traditionally negotiated by and given to pharmacy benefit managers.

Saint Anthony Hospital, a safety-net hospital in Chicago, through its Community Wellness Programs has continued to provide free mental health services targeting minority and immigrant populations despite challenges due to COVID-19.

Atrium Health President and CEO Eugene Woods spoke on CBS’s Face the Nation about the lack of reagents for COVID-19 testing, racial disparities during the pandemic and treating thousands of COVID-19 patients in their homes.

Hologic Inc. received $7.6 million from the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense to increase production of supplies needed for COVID-19 testing, including custom sample collection and processing consumables.

The National Institutes of Health announced that a COVID-19 vaccine candidate co-developed by Moderna, Inc. and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has begun a phase 3 clinical trial.

The Food and Drug Administration reissued its emergency use authorization for the LabCorp COVID-19 RT-PCR Test to include authorized use for asymptomatic individuals and for pooled sample testing with up to five individual specimens.

COVID-19 has disproportionately affected communities of color throughout the nation, with minorities more likely to be infected and severely impacted by the virus. But its effect is more than physical.