News

The House Ways and Means Committee July 26 voted 25-16 to pass the Health Care Price Transparency Act (H.R. 4822), legislation that would impose additional site-neutral payment cuts and regulatory burdens on off-campus hospital outpatient departments, impose additional Medicare sequester cuts on hospitals, and codify and make changes to hospital price transparency regulations.

With the generous support of many people and organizations, Chris Manson, vice president for government relations at OSF HealthCare in Peoria, Ill., has helped deliver over 50 ambulances and tons of medical supplies to Ukraine since March 2022

Malicious actors recently exploited a Citrix vulnerability to steal active directory data from a critical infrastructure organization, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reported recently, urging organizations to take certain steps to detect a potential system compromise and apply patches.

The departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury released a proposed rule that seeks to ensure commercial health plans comply with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, which prohibits them from imposing more restrictive requirements on mental health or substance use disorder benefits than on medical and surgical benefits.

A Modern Healthcare analysis of 340B hospitals “should be viewed with the derision it deserves,” writes AHA General Counsel & Secretary Melinda Hatton.

The Veterans Health Administration is offering free online training to help community health care providers feel confident and comfortable talking with veterans at risk for suicide about secure storage of firearms and other lethal means, which can help save lives. 

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration seeks comments through 5 p.m. Aug. 14 on its draft framework to integrate harm reduction strategies across its initiatives and partnerships for people who use drugs.

The Food and Drug Administration said it did not expect “any immediate significant impacts on supply” after a tornado damaged a Pfizer plant in North Carolina that makes sterile injectables for U.S. hospitals, but is working with Pfizer to complete a more extensive assessment and will share more information as it becomes available.

Each year, the AHA Quest for Quality Prize recognizes hospitals and health systems that have committed to and are making significant progress toward providing exceptional care to patients based on those six “STEEEP” aims.

Crews are working to restore power and assess damage to a Pfizer plant in North Carolina that makes sterile injectables for U.S. hospitals after a tornado struck the facility July 19, the company said July 21.

AHA on July 21 submitted comments on how Congress can ensure that the 340B program continues to benefit patients and communities, while acting to prevent any cuts to the program that would jeopardize patient access to care.

The Biden Administration today established the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, which will take over the duties of the current White House COVID-19 Response Team and Mpox Team and coordinate and develop policies and priorities related to pandemic preparedness and response.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration this week awarded about $48 million to support substance use disorder prevention, treatment and recovery.

The AHA’s Next Generation Leaders Fellowship today announced its 43 fellows for 2024, who will work one-on-one with mentors to address a challenge specific to their hospital or health system, presenting their solution at the 2024 AHA Leadership Summit.

A recent JAMA-published study on U.S. hospitals’ financial performance during the COVID-19 public health emergency suffers from several methodological setbacks that undermine its credibility, writes Aaron Wesolowski, AHA’s vice president of policy, research, analytics and strategy.

AHA July 21 released its quarterly Health Care Plan Accountability Update, featuring the latest news on AHA efforts to hold commercial health insurers accountable for policies that can delay care for patients, burden health care providers and add unnecessary costs to the health care system.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights and Federal Trade Commission yesterday sent a letter to about 130 hospital systems and telehealth providers reminding them to comply with HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules, the FTC Act and FTC Health Breach Notification Rule when using technologies that can track a user’s online activities, such as Meta/Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics.

Effective Aug. 27, the Joint Commission will eliminate or consolidate over 200 more accreditation standards in its hospital and other accreditation programs as part of an initiative to retire standards that go beyond the Medicare conditions of participation and don’t add value.

In recent years, the dedication to innovation has been fueled in part by advancements in technology. Patients right now — and in the future — can expect more care delivery that is driven by 3D modeling; predictive analytics; advanced robotics for surgeries and treatments; and personalized therapies based on genomics.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved Medicaid state plan amendments for California and Kentucky to provide 24/7 community-based mobile crisis intervention services to eligible individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, as authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act.