News

The threat to public health from the pandemic is thankfully subsiding. Unfortunately, a very different threat is on the rise: Cyber criminals have been ramping up their attacks on the health care sector, jeopardizing systems and putting lives at risk.

Cyber actors continue to exploit vulnerabilities in the operating system for the Fortinet network security system, the FBI warned today, noting that a group “almost certainly” exploited a Fortigate appliance this month to access a webserver hosting the domain for a U.S. municipal government. The agency said actors are actively targeting a broad range of victims across multiple sectors. The alert recommends actions to help organizations guard against the threat. 

The Health Resources and Services Administration this week announced details on its notice of funding opportunity for its Rural Health Clinic Vaccine Confidence Program.

The AHA June 3 at 1 p.m. ET will host a webinar featuring Michael Fallahkhair, senior advisor for Federal Office of Rural Health Policy at the Department of Health and Human Services, who will discuss federal funding opportunities to assist rural hospitals and rural health clinics with efforts related to COVID-19 testing, mitigation and vaccination.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday proposed delaying Medicaid “best price” and “best price reporting” requirements for state value-based purchasing agreements with drug manufacturers until July 2022.

In this podcast marking Mental Health Awareness Month, Shane McGuire, CEO of Columbia County Health System in Dayton, Wash., discusses the hospital district’s collaborative work with the University of Washington’s psychiatry program and its Advancing Integrated Mental Health Center, which focuses on creating care models between primary care providers and their mental health care counterparts.

On June 4, AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence initiative encourages everyone to stand together for the fifth-annual #HAVhope Friday. This national day of awareness unites hospitals, health systems, nurses, doctors and other professionals to highlight programs and initiatives that help mitigate violence in the workplace and their communities.

The Food and Drug Administration today recommended health care providers transition away from using disposable respirators not approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, including imported respirators such as KN95s, based on the increased domestic supply of new NIOSH-approved respirators.

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday authorized for emergency use a new monoclonal antibody therapy, Sotrovimab, for outpatients at risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 disease.

AHA yesterday voiced support for bipartisan legislation that would add 1,000 Medicare-funded hospital residency positions in addiction medicine, addiction psychiatry or pain medicine, with 500 slots reserved for hospitals with existing programs in these specialties and 500 for hospitals creating new programs.

A bipartisan group of senators and representatives this week reintroduced AHA-supported legislation to improve and extend the Conrad State 30 program, which allows states to request J-1 visa waivers for up to 30 foreign physicians per year to work in federally designated shortage and underserved areas. The Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act would extend the program for three additional years, increase state allocations to 35 physicians per year and provide flexibility to expand the number of waivers in states where demand exceeds that limit.

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., today announced plans to draft legislation to create a federally administered public option for health coverage and sought input on related questions until July 31. 

Nancy Maldonado, CEO of the San Diego-based Chicano Federation (an affiliate member with AHA’s strategic partner UnidosUS), shares how the organization provided critical leadership within the San Diego community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center, through its SOAR to Health and Wellness Training Program, invites organizations to form teams for a free, six-week training opportunity and technical assistance package to strengthen your organization’s substance use treatment and referral system for survivors of human trafficking.

Reliance on digital tools can exacerbate barriers to care among certain populations and may be less accessible to people with limited English proficiency. As these technologies become ubiquitous, now is the time to examine digital health from an equity lens to ensure that no community is left behind.

The Uber app is offering up to $25 off each ride to and from an eligible vaccination site between May 24 and July 4, for up to two round-trips rides spaced three weeks apart, the company announced yesterday.

Moderna said it will submit its data to the Food and Drug Administration in early June as part of a requested expansion of its emergency use authorization to include teens and adolescents.

The Senate today voted 55-44 to confirm Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to serve as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator.

Medical Action Industries Inc. has recalled more than 8,000 medical convenience kits due to fungal contamination risk from an applicator used to sanitize skin prior to wound care, catheter procedures and blood collection

The Health Resources and Services Administration will use $4.8 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act to reimburse health care providers for testing uninsured individuals for COVID-19 through its COVID-19 Uninsured Program, the Department of Health and Human Services announced today.