News

Use of primary and preventive care services have declined sharply among children in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program since the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Catherine Cortez Mastro, D-NV, introduced the Worker Health Coverage Protection Act, AHA-supported legislation that would subsidize COBRA and other health coverage for workers who lose employment-based coverage or are furloughed due to the pandemic.

The AHA urged the Department of Health and Human Services to reinstate the COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund reporting requirements outlined in its June 19 FAQ that defined both expenses and lost revenues attributable to COVID-19.

More than 200,000 of our friends, family members, fellow citizens and front-line workers have succumbed to COVID-19 since March. To put that in context, that’s approximately the same as the population of Salt Lake City, Utah.

AHA’s latest Members in Action podcast dives into the importance of promoting race equity to ensure healthy pregnancies, healthy babies and better outcomes for the community in general.

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy is accepting comments through Oct. 23 on proposed changes to how it designates geographic areas eligible for its rural health grants.

AHA Sept. 23 sponsored the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference session, “Advancing Black Maternal Health: Moving the Momnibus and Coverage Expansion Forward.”

The Department of Health and Human Services through Sept. 24 has reduced by 52.8% its backlog of Medicare appeals at the Administrative Law Judge level, according to a status report the agency provided today to a federal court.

Hospitals and health systems nationwide can participate in the non-partisan Spirit of Liberty Foundation’s Operation Thank You relay.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized for emergency use the first serology test to help identify individuals with antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 at the point of care.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance group has reached a tentative settlement in an antitrust lawsuit dating back to 2012 that alleged its member companies illegally conspired to divvy up markets and avoid competing against one another, driving up customers’ prices, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Department of Health and Human Services in a strongly worded letter to Eli Lilly calls into question recent actions by the drug manufacturer to limit 340B hospital and community clinics’ use of 340B contract pharmacy arrangements.

As health care executives and their boards face increasingly complex challenges and opportunities, the best boards are taking a much more proactive approach to their own renewal.

Two clinical trials launched in April to evaluate convalescent plasma as a treatment for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are expanding, the National Institutes of Health announced.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced $165 million in supplemental funding to help 33 states participating in the Money Follows the Person Medicaid demonstration transition older adults and individuals with disabilities from long-term care facilities to home and community-based settings, including in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The House voted 359-57 to pass a continuing resolution that would generally extend current federal funding levels for health care and other programs through Dec. 11.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded $200 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds to help states, territories and other jurisdictions prepare to distribute and administer COVID-19 vaccine.

Johnson & Johnson said  that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate is moving to a global phase 3 clinical trial.

The RAND Corporation last week released the third edition of its hospital price transparency study, which once again missed the mark with its flawed methodology, writes Aaron Wesolowski, AHA vice president for policy research, analytics and strategy, in the AHA Stat Blog.

The Health Resources and Services Administration awarded states, territories and nonprofit organizations $341 million in fiscal year 2020 funding for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, which provides voluntary home visiting services to pregnant women and parents with young children.