News

The Department of Labor July 31 sued a third-party administrator owned by UnitedHealth Group in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, alleging it improperly denied claims for emergency services and urinary drug screening since 2015.

“Some analyses seem to suggest that anything above a zero percent margin is inherently bad, as though the operating goal of hospitals and health systems should be to incur financial losses,” write AHA’s Bharath Krishnamurthy, director of policy and health analytics, and Benjamin Finder, director of policy research and analysis.

Over 5.6 million women in the US live in maternity care deserts. Read the latest analysis on access to obstetric care through hospitals and providers from the March of Dimes on AHA News.

UnitedHealthcare Aug. 1 published a list of procedures no longer subject to prior authorization effective either Sept. 1 or Nov. 1, 2023.

The AHA Aug. 1 joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other organizations in urging the Federal Trade Commission to extend for at least 60 days the comment period for their draft guidance revising how they review mergers and acquisitions to determine compliance with federal antitrust laws.

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” This anonymous quote — which some have attributed to Albert Einstein — sums up one lesson from the pandemic.

The National Institutes of Health’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative opened enrollment for clinical trials to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of at least four potential treatments for long COVID in adults.

In the 18 states that began unwinding the continuous coverage requirement for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollees in April, 46% of enrollees with coverage up for renewal had their coverage renewed, 32% were terminated and redeterminations for the rest are pending, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported in its first monthly data report on renewals. For more information, see the CMS infographic. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today announced the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model, a voluntary national Medicare payment model beginning next July that aims to help dementia patients remain at home and improve quality of life for them and their caregivers

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its fiscal year 2024 final rule for the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 28 issued its final rule updating hospice payments for fiscal year 2024.

At its annual conference Aug. 6-9 in San Antonio, AHA’s American Society for Health Care Engineering will present 10 health care facilities with 2023 Sustainability Champion Awards for their strong leadership in becoming more sustainable and using saved resources to support patient care.

Kevin Barnett, senior investigator with the Public Health Institute and board member for Trinity Health, discusses how rural providers with finite resources can bridge the gap between clinical care and community population health, while also improving health equity.

In this AHA webinar replay for health care providers, experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and hospitals clarify what COVID-19 vaccines are available and share strategies to help promote vaccination, especially in children under age 5.

A May data breach involving MOVEit Transfer software on Medicare contractor Maximus Federal Services’ corporate network may have exposed an estimated 612,000 Medicare beneficiaries’ personally identifiable information and/or protected health information, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced July 28.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 28 advised clinicians in the Medicare Quality Payment Program w

In the wake of tornado damage last week to a large Pfizer sterile injectables plant in North Carolina, the Food and Drug Administration July 28 posted a list of products made at the facility that have less than three months of inventory in the supply chain.

Legislators need to be aware of the work that hospitals and health systems do now more than ever because the House and Senate are considering so-called site-neutral legislation that would further reduce Medicare funding for patient services provided by hospitals.

Effective Aug. 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has instructed Medicare Administrative Contractors to begin checking hospital and health system claims for outpatient services provided in off-campus provider-based departments to ensure that the address where the services were provided exactly matches the provider location information in the Medicare Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System, the agency announced.

Health Services Research, the flagship publication of AHA’s Health Research & Educational Trust and an official journal of AcademyHealth, invites researchers to submit through July 31 abstracts highlighting scientific contributions and real-world impacts emanating from learning health systems.