The AHA, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association today urged congressional leaders to provide $100 billion to front line health care personnel and providers and “direct the federal agencies to begin to infuse funds immediately so that they can afford to take the necessary steps to fight” the novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19). See the letter for more details about the specific requests.

In addition, AHA today sent out an Advocacy Alert asking hospital and health systems leaders to contact their senators and representative on these issues as leaders in the Senate, House and Administration continue to work on proposals for a third COVID-19 spending package.

Last night, President Trump signed legislation that, among other areas, eliminates patient cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing and related services; establishes an emergency paid leave program; expands unemployment and nutrition assistance; provides a temporary increase in the Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP); and creates two mechanisms for coverage of testing for the uninsured — one through the Medicaid program and another through the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund. For more details, see the AHA Advisory.

Related News Articles

Headline
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Sept. 18 issued a health advisory on a new outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are…
Headline
The Department of Health and Human Services Sept. 18 announced it will take new actions to help improve care for individuals with long COVID. They include a…
Headline
The Food and Drug Administration has identified a Class I recall for Mo-Vis BVBA R-net Joysticks due to a firmware error that causes the wheelchair to ignore…
Headline
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is predicting a similar combined number of peak hospitalizations from COVID-19, the flu and respiratory…
Headline
A JAMA study published Aug. 20 found that nearly 63% of all U.S. drug production facilities from 2019 through 2024 were in counties where a weather disaster…
Headline
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced a 60-day extension of the comment period on its proposed rule to remove the remaining…