News

Responding today to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services request for information on a proposal to create and test one or more direct provider contracting models through Medicare contracts with primary care practices, AHA said it supports the development of models that improve beneficiaries’ access to care.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will offer a free course June 9 in Philadelphia for physicians and other health care professionals who care for pregnant women with opioid use disorder and substance-exposed infants

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday unanimously advanced President Trump’s nomination of John Bartrum to serve as assistant secretary for financial resources in the Department of Health and Human Services.

The National Center for Healthcare Leadership is accepting nominations through June 8 for the 2018 Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award.

This weekend we pause to observe Memorial Day to remember those who died and served our nation protecting our freedom and liberty.

The Senate Finance Committee today held a hearing on “Rural Health Care in America: Challenges and Opportunities.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved five bills to address the opioid crisis, which include provisions aimed at increasing participation in drug take-back programs, strengthening Drug Enforcement Administration discretion in setting opioid quotas, and reducing demand for illicit narcotics.

The AHA today submitted comments on the Food and Drug Administration’s Medical Device Safety Action Plan.

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday introduced 22 bipartisan bills to address the opioid crisis in Medicare, Medicaid and human services programs.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health yesterday held a hearing on bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Program through 2023 at $330 million a year, $30 million more than the current funding level.

The Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative reduced hospitalizations and emergency department visits and improved primary care delivery for beneficiaries, but did not reduce Medicare spending enough to cover care management fees or significantly improve quality.

The AHA today named as its senior vice president for field engagement C. Douglas Shaw, currently chief operating and development officer for the association’s Health Forum subsidiary.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today voted 22-1 to approve the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved special handling instructions to allow health care providers to use certain opioid and other intravenous drug products made by Hospira that were on hold due to low potential for a manufacturing defect but are in short supply.

In comments submitted yesterday, AHA strongly urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to withdraw a proposed rule that would exempt states with high Medicaid managed care enrollment or that propose “nominal” rate reductions from requirements to assess whether their Medicaid fee-for-service rates are sufficient to ensure beneficiary access to covered services.

Overall cancer death rates continue to decline for U.S. men, women and children in all major racial and ethnic groups, according to the latest annual report to the nation on the status of cancer.

Patients discharged from the hospital and those who care for them would like hospitals to communicate in a supportive, collaborative and purposeful way, anticipate and explain how they will address their needs, and ensure continuity of care, according to a pilot study by Project ACHIEVE.

Georgia hospitals contributed more than $49 billion to the state’s economy in 2016, providing more than 366,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to a recent report by the Georgia Hospital Association.

AHA supports the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s bipartisan reauthorization of the hospital and public health preparedness programs contained within S. 2852, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2018.

The AHA today expressed support for the VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act of 2018 (S. 2372), known as the VA MISSION Act, bipartisan legislation to consolidate the Department of Veterans Affairs' community care programs into one permanent Veterans Community Care Program.