News

The AHA shared with President Biden the association’s initial recommendations for infrastructure investments that should be included in an upcoming legislative package to ensure hospitals and health systems are fully equipped to care for their communities now and into the future, as well as respond to any future public health emergency. 

Anticipating possible congressional action to extend the moratorium on the 2% sequester cut to all Medicare payments, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it has instructed Medicare administrative contractors to hold all claims with dates of service on or after April 1, 2021, for a short period.

The AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence initiative today kicked off the latest convening in a series of events focused on hospitals’ and health systems’ efforts to identify and prevent human trafficki

The Community Health Access and Rural Transformation Model will not seek applications from accountable care organizations until next spring, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last month extended to April 1 the deadline for eligible hospitals to submit calendar year 2020 electronic clinical quality measures to the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program and Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program.

The AHA Physician Alliance joins the chorus of thanks to doctors everywhere on March 30 — National Doctor’s Day. Read more.  

The Food and Drug Administration recently issued an emergency use authorization for a next generation sequencing test to detect SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory specimens from individuals suspected of COVID-19 by their health care provider.

Health care and behavioral health care systems can apply through April 19 for grants to screen children and/or adults in primary care and community health settings to screen for substance use disorders, implement brief interventions and refer for treatment services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced. 

The Department of Health and Human Services through March 26 has reduced by more than 69% its backlog of Medicare appeals at the Administrative Law Judge level, according to a status report the agency provided Friday to a federal court.

The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines reduced the risk of both asymptomatic and symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection by 90% at least two weeks after the second dose and by 80% at least two weeks after the first dose in a study of 3,950 vaccinated health care and other essential workers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. 

In this episode of Leadership Rounds, I talk with Alvin Hoover, CEO of King’s Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven, Miss., who is serving on the front lines of rural health care.   

AHA urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to rescind its recent audit determinations denying hospitals a mid-build exception to site-neutral payment under the 21st Century Cures Act.

The FBI released an alert on Mamba ransomware, which uses an open source encryptions software to encrypt and restrict access to a victim’s entire drive, including the operating system.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released interpretive guidance for emergency preparedness provisions in its 2019 final rule reducing certain regulatory burdens for providers participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The Senate voted 92-7 to pass and send to the president legislation (H.R. 1799) to extend the Paycheck Protection Program through June 30. The president is expected to sign the bill, which will allow applications through May 31. Without the extension, the program would expire March 31.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the immediate resumption of survey activities for all complaints.

As more vaccine supplies become available and more jurisdictions expand priority categories or do away with them altogether, hospitals and health systems continue to work overtime to serve as access points.

Learn how hospital and health system leaders such as Neil Gomes, system senior vice president of digital and human experiences at CommonSpirit Health, are synthesizing and applying consumer experience data insights for improved patient loyalty and outcomes. 

The House Education and Labor Committee voted 27-20 to approve, as amended, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act (H.R. 1195). 

The AHA voiced support for the Rural America Health Corps Act (S.924), legislation that would establish a Rural America Health Corps modeled on the National Health Service Corps to encourage health care professionals to serve in rural areas.