AHA Stat Blog

This is a confusing time in the public health emergency. Americans are thinking less about COVID-19 on a daily basis and many are eager to move on.

The AHA has long believed that tackling health disparities and promoting diversity within health care leadership are critical to ensuring high-quality care for all people.

One important learning from the two-and-a-half-year COVID-19 pandemic is that the public health emergency (PHE) waivers made an enormous difference for hospitals and health systems.

A Quality Leadership Roundtable that took place at the 2022 American Hospital Association Leadership Summit in San Diego. Hosted by the AHA Living Learning Network.

Remaining resilient as new variants of COVID-19 spread. Launching mobile health services to help ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Delaying and denying authorizations for medically necessary care. Forcing patients to try potentially ineffective treatments through step therapy, or “fail first” protocols that require patients to try and fail certain treatments before the insurer will authorize more costly treatments.

Like many hospitals and health systems across the nation, the AdventHealth Central Florida Division is experiencing a shortage of nurses. According to the Florida Hospital Association, the state could face a shortfall of nearly 60,000 nurses by 2035 if changes aren’t made in inspiring, recruiting and supporting nursing students and nurses.

All hospitals and health systems, regardless of size, location and type of ownership, are deeply dedicated to caring for their patients and communities in a wide variety of ways. A report from May by the respected accounting firm EY demonstrates that for every dollar invested in non-profit hospitals and health systems through the federal tax exemption, nearly $9 in benefits is delivered back to communities.

On this episode, I talk with Mikelle Moore, senior vice president and chief community health officer at Intermountain Healthcare, based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

With over 95% of the population receiving at least one dose of the vaccine – and nearly 84% fully vaccinated – we were interested in learning how Puerto Rico had been so successful at mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

we are deeply concerned that last week’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed rule would increase Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system rates by just 2.7% in calendar year 2023 compared to 2022. Given the current historic rates of inflation and continued labor and supply cost pressures, a much higher update is warranted.

Black women are three to four times more likely to experience a pregnancy or childbirth-related death than White women. The health and well-being of women on their maternal journey – before, during and after childbirth are critical aspects of equitable health care.

The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations.

In 2020, Congress designated 988 as an easy to remember 3-digit dialing, texting, and chat code to assist people experiencing mental health and/or substance use emergencies. 988 will complement the current National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is currently answered by over 200 local crisis centers across the country.

The AHA has been making the case to CMS urging it to adjust the market-basket update to account for the unprecedented inflationary environment hospitals and health systems are experiencing, and eliminate the productivity cut. We also have asked Congress to weigh in with the agency to make these changes in its final regulation.

Recent reports have mischaracterized Medicare’s proposals to account for the impact of COVID-19 in its quality measurement programs as “hiding” important and useful patient safety data from the public.

Over the past few years, we have seen an increase in tech-based approaches to improving maternal outcomes and the birthing journey.

In 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) overhauled the Hospital Overall Quality Star Ratings methodology with the expressed purpose of making ratings more transparent, equitable, stable and predictable.

This month we celebrate National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, so it is appropriate that we consider the impact of our words as we work to reduce the stigma around mental health issues.