News

When the omicron BA.4/BA.5 variants were circulating, Americans who received an updated COVID-19 vaccine were 14 times less likely to die than those who received no vaccine and five times less likely to die than those who received the original monovalent vaccine, according a study released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Federal Emergency Management Agency today notified government partners and stakeholders that the incident period for public assistance funding for eligible COVID-19-related work and reimbursable costs will end with the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FBI released guidance to help organizations prevent and recover from a global ransomware campaign that has compromised over 3,800 VMware ESXi servers.

Hear how Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., developed a system allowing hospital staff members to protect patient safety in the event of a broad-based ransomware or malware attack.

The Food and Drug Administration Friday cleared for commercial distribution a test to diagnose multiple respiratory viral and bacterial infections in respiratory specimens from patients with suspected COVID-19 or other respiratory infections.

A new white paper from the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC), a public-private partnership to mitigate risks to the sector, outlines nine cybersecurity concerns for artificial intelligence use in the clinical and enterprise environment and approaches to address them

In an op-ed yesterday in The Hill, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack explains why hospitals and health systems are working with government and other stakeholders this year to enact legislation and policies to ensure access to care and provide financial, regulatory and administrative relief; strengthen the health care workforce; and advance health care quality, equity and transformation.

A Texas judge yesterday held that the federal government’s revised independent dispute resolution process for determining payment for out-of-network services under the No Surprises Act skews the arbitration results in commercial insurers’ favor in violation of the compromise Congress reached in the Act.  

As HHS prepares to end the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11, AHA today recommended the agency take immediate actions to help ensure care remains available to patients when and where they need it; support the health care workforce as they continue to shoulder a disproportionate amount of strain; and remove unnecessary administrative and regulatory burdens that prevent providers from modernizing care delivery while adding cost and friction in the health care system.

The Committee on Clinical Leadership serves as a clinical resource on policy issues and guides the ongoing work of the AHA Physician Alliance. 

Adults receiving dialysis treatment for end-stage kidney disease were 100 times more likely to have a Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection than adults not on dialysis during 2017-2020, with the risk 40% higher for Hispanic patients than white patients, according to a report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Food and Drug Administration last week removed the requirement for a positive COVID-19 test result to prescribe Paxlovid to certain adult and pediatric patients and Lagevrio to certain adults at risk of progressing to severe COVID-19.

Nearly 1,200 health care leaders from rural hospitals, health systems and health clinics, as well as rural associations and community health organizations, will convene Feb. 19–22 in San Antonio for the AHA Rural Health Care Leadership Conference.

AHA and its Institute for Diversity and Health Equity are providing social media assets that hospitals and health systems can use throughout February to highlight Black contributions to health care.

Hospitals and health systems added 10,900 jobs in January, while U.S. jobs overall increased by 517,000, according to data released Feb. 3 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Department of Justice withdrew three policy statements on health care antitrust enforcement, saying they are “overly permissive on certain subjects, such as information sharing,” and that “a case-by-case enforcement approach” would allow it to better evaluate health care mergers and competition.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week released updated fact sheets for hospitals and other types of Medicare and Medicaid providers on the status of COVID-19 blanket waivers and flexibilities and whether they will end or continue after the COVID-19 public health emergency. 

Cyberattacks are increasing globally and in the U.S., with health care organizations, especially hospitals and health systems, being prime targets.

New on-demand resources from the AHA’s Living Learning Network include a story on the healing power of music from AdventHealth System, and a podcast with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine on improving older adult care in the geriatric emergency department.

The U.S. health care system spent $60 billion conducting nine common administrative transactions in 2022, about $18 billion more than the previous year due to higher staffing costs and health care use.