News

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today finalized proposed changes to Medicare Advantage plan capitation rates and Part C and Part D payment policies for calendar year 2024, which the agency estimates will increase MA plan revenues by an average 3.32% from 2023 to 2024.

New results from an ongoing clinical trial provide strong evidence that emergency departments can safely start buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder without triggering withdrawal in people who use fentanyl, the National Institutes of Health reports.

The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will have sufficient funds to pay full benefits until 2031, according to the latest annual report by the Medicare Board of Trustees.

If President Biden signs as expected Congress’ joint resolution ending the COVID-19 national emergency immediately, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ COVID-19 waivers and flexibilities will remain in place through May 11 as planned.

One year ago, we asked hospitals and health systems to participate in an important effort – AHA’s Health Equity Roadmap.

Health care leaders should consider what they can do to create more opportunities for women throughout the field, particularly for women of color, writes Stacy Garrett-Ray, M.D., Ascension’s senior vice president and chief community impact officer.

The Environmental Protection Agency this week presented AHA’s American Society for Health Care Engineering with a 2023 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year—Sustained Excellence Award, the program’s highest honor, for its long-term commitment to fighting climate change and protecting public health through energy efficiency.

Medicare patients who have access to telehealth services and medications for opioid use disorder have lower risk of fatal drug overdose, according to a study reported yesterday in JAMA Psychiatry.

Effective today under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, medical devices seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration must meet certain cybersecurity requirements if they connect to the internet and contain software and technological characteristics vulnerable to cybersecurity threats.

A district court judge in Texas today vacated nationwide an Affordable Care Act requirement that most group and individual health plans cover certain preventive health services without cost sharing. The Biden Administration is expected to appeal the ruling.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released FAQs on COVID-19 coverage after the public health emergency ends.

Responding yesterday to a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee request for input on reauthorization of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, AHA recommended actions to update the federal organizational structure and approach to data collection; strengthen the medical supply chain, Strategic National Stockpile and health care cybersecurity; and increase funding for the Hospital Preparedness Program, including additional dedicated, direct-to-hospital funding that will supplement, and not supplant, current HPP investments.

The Mississippi Hospital Association Cares Fund, created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, is accepting donations to help Mississippi hospital employees directly affected by the recent tornado.

Learn how Advocate Children's Hospital is managing the “immunity gap” created by social distancing to persevere through the triple threat of COVID-19, RSV and flu.

A recent Washington Post article on medical debt “missed a major reason that medical debt has increased in our country: the rise of high-deductible and skinny insurance plans that result in larger out-of-pocket expenses for consumers,” writes AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack in a letter to the editor published yesterday, noting that hospitals do more than any other part of the health care field to support patients and communities in need

In a blog published today, AHA refuted a number of suggestions that appeared in a recent Health Affairs column discussing what is behind the financial losses at large nonprofit hospitals.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday affirmed a district court’s decision dismissing a lawsuit that sought to turn a hospital’s decision not to hire a physician into a False Claims Act suit based on the Anti-Kickback Statute.

AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack today took part in a Kaiser Permanente launch of a new initiative (LINK) to help expand support for public health.

In response to Drug Enforcement Administration proposals to limit telehealth prescriptions for buprenorphine and other controlled substances after the COVID-19 public health emergency to a 30-day supply unless the prescriber or referring clinician have evaluated the patient in person, AHA today urged the agency to establish a special registration process (as statutorily mandated) to waive the in-person evaluations for practitioners who register with the DEA.

AHA today applauded and urged the Food and Drug Administration to finalize its draft guidance proposing that blood donor eligibility be determined based on individual risk assessment, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.