News

The Food and Drug Administration recently authorized extending from six to nine months the shelf life for refrigerated Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius (about 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit), based on data submitted by the company. 

Health care providers who received Provider Relief Fund payments exceeding $10,000 total between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2020, must report to the Health Resources and Services Administration by March 31 on how they used those funds or face enforcement actions such as repayment or exclusion from receiving or retaining future PRF payments.

One week in early March every year is designated as Patient Safety Awareness Week, a national recognition to encourage everyone to learn more about health care safety.  

The Transportation Security Administration will continue to require masks on public transportation through April 18 to protect against COVID-19, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends. 

As the COVID-19 vaccine continues rolling out to pediatric populations, historically marginalized communities may have questions about the safety of the vaccine.

In a study of 1,364 children aged 5-15, two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduced the risk of omicron infection by 31% in those under 12 and 59% in older children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The AHA and Federation of American Hospitals today urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to deny Doctors Hospital at Renaissance an exception to the physician self-referral prohibition because the request “is inconsistent with Congress’s intent, does not serve a valid public policy purpose and would set a bad precedent.”

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI and U.S. Secret Service this week issued an updated advisory on the Russian-speaking Conti ransomware gang to include a list of over 100 domain names and naming characteristics used to distribute the ransomware and conduct attacks. 

Effective April 4, the Department of Health and Human Services will no longer require COVID-19 testing facilities to report negative results for tests authorized for use under a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment certificate of waiver, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. 

The International Hospital Federation, of which the AHA is a member, issued a statement expressing concern about the escalation of violence affecting hospitals and health care personnel in Ukraine as Russia continues its attack on the country. 

The Senate passed and sent to the president for his signature a $1.5 trillion omnibus appropriations bill funding the federal government through the end of the current fiscal year.

NFL coaching legend Vince Lombardi said, “Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a civilization work.”

Health Facilities Management, the magazine for AHA’s American Society for Health Care Engineering, recently launched a series of articles exploring how climate change and climate events impact health care facilities and their planning, preparedness and response efforts.

AHA will host a conversation between three of Cleveland’s premier health system leaders during the upcoming Accelerating Health Equity Conference. Akram Boutros, M.D., president and CEO of The MetroHealth System, Cliff A. Megerian, M.D., CEO of University Hospitals, and Tomislav Mihaljevic, M.D., president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic, will discuss the actions they’ve taken to advance health equity and strengthen partnerships in their own communities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released evidence-based recommendations to prevent and control central line-associated blood stream infections in neonatal intensive care unit patients.

An estimated 28% of children aged 5-11 received a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine between Nov. 1 and Jan. 18, while 19% received a second dose, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a Medicare payment code effective Feb. 24 for administering the combination monoclonal antibody therapy Evusheld to prevent COVID-19 in certain patients.

The AHA voiced support for the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act (H.R. 7053 /S. 3792), bipartisan legislation that would extend the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ acute hospital care at home waiver program two years beyond the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency

The House of Representatives passed a $1.5 trillion omnibus appropriations bill that would fund the federal government through the end of the current fiscal year.

Most adults aged 50 to 80 have concerns when deciding whether to have elective surgery but are very satisfied with the outcome if they have the surgery done, according to the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging.