News

The Department of Health and Human Services declared public health emergencies and waived certain Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program requirements in Louisiana and Texas due to Hurricane Laura, and in California due to wildfires.

The Health Resources and Services Administration has distributed the first half of a planned $5 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act’s Provider Relief Fund allocation to nursing homes, the agency announced.

People who have been within 6 feet of someone with COVID-19 for at least 15 minutes but do not have symptoms do not need to get a COVID-19 diagnostic test unless they are “a vulnerable individual” or their health care provider or public health officials recommend it, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in updated guidance.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the first COVID-19 antigen test that allows health care providers to read the results in minutes directly from the testing card, similar to some pregnancy tests.

The AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity announced that Cone Health in Greensboro, N.C., is the recipient of the 2020 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services extended its timeline for issuing a final rule modernizing the physician self-referral regulations until Aug. 31, 2021.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital that hospitals and health systems are equipped with personal protective equipment to ensure the safety of their health care workers while providing care for patients.

Partnering with trusted sources and offering relevant incentives may encourage individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 to respond to health department contact tracing efforts, according to a report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Societal Experts Action Network.

The Defense Logistics Agency will begin distributing 1.5 million N95 respirators from the Strategic National Stockpile to about 3,330 nursing homes in the Medicare and Medicaid programs that have less than a three-day supply, the Department of Health and Human Services announced yesterday.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its national training program to prevent and control COVID-19 in Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes. The training incorporates best practices and lessons learned from COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes and CMS inspections, with input from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts.

The National Governors Association and other organizations representing cities and states expressed concern that the Federal Emergency Management Agency may eliminate personal protective equipment and disinfectants as eligible reimbursable expenses under public assistance for COVID-19, citing recent communications from the agency.

AHA urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to provide flexibility regarding the agency’s new COVID-19 test documentation requirement for the diagnostic-related group add-on payment.

Other public health departments might benefit from implementing tools like Kentucky’s Indicator Monitoring Report, which combines multiple data elements to generate a daily COVID-19 status score to systematically assess the state’s mitigation, response and reopening efforts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

AHA Board Chair Melinda Estes, M.D., will be joined by Rachelle Schultz, president and CEO of Winona Health, for the next in a series of Leadership Rounds — short conversations on a range of key issues Dr. Estes will have with hospital and health system leaders from across the country.

The Small Business Administration released an interim final rule, effective immediately, on the process for Paycheck Protection Program borrowers to appeal certain SBA loan review decisions to the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals.

The Department of Health and Human Services has extended to Sept. 13 the deadline for applying for its Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund “Phase 2 General Distribution.” The previous deadline was Aug. 28.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued an interim final rule that, among other provisions, makes collecting and reporting COVID-19-data a condition of participation for hospitals that participate in Medicare. 

Associations Now, the American Society of Association Executives’ magazine for nonprofit professionals, has named AHA to its list of “100 Associations That Will Save the World.”

The AHA urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to reverse its calendar year 2021 Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update of 4.36% behavioral offset for the remainder of CY 2020 and beyond until all CY 2020 data are available for analysis.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported 100 confirmed or probable Ebola cases and 43 deaths in Equateur Province since June 1, the World Health Organization reported.