News

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform this week concluded a two-day hearing examining pricing practices for some of the nation’s costliest drugs. As part of the hearing, Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., released additional staff reports describing repeated actions by drug companies to raise the price of certain drugs.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) released a guide to help organizations prevent and respond to ransomware attacks, including best practices and a ransomware response checklist. For additional ransomware resources, visit CISA’s ransomware webpage. 

One third of the first 750,000 Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries screened through the Accountable Health Communities Model reported having at least one health-related social need, according to preliminary findings from the model released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The House approved an updated version of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act that includes $2.2 trillion in additional COVID-19 relief funds.

The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine released A Framework for Equitable Allocation of Vaccine for the Novel Coronavirus to assist and guide the federal government and decision-making bodies, including the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, as well as state, tribal, local and territorial authorities in their COVID-19 vaccine allocation planning.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced the renewal of the COVID-19 national public health emergency declaration.

While hospitals and health systems — and their brave front-line caregivers — continue to battle the greatest public health challenge of our lifetimes, the Department of Health and Human Services recently made a change to its COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund (PRF) reporting requirements that could jeopardize access to care for patients and communities.

In part two of this podcast series, Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president of the AHA Physician Alliance, speaks with Chris Moriates, M.D., assistant dean for health care value at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, and Pamela Johnson, M.D., vice president of care transformation at Johns Hopkins Health System, about how clinicians and hospital leaders are working together to enhance health care value and affordability.

State Medicaid programs must cover medication assisted treatment under a new mandatory benefit.

The AHA responded to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services request for information regarding whether the agency should include exceptions to the electronic prescribing of controlled substances requirements in the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act.

The Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response has released a recording of its Sept. 24 webinar on strategies to optimize personal protective equipment and supplies during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

A vast majority of nurse leaders (86%) feel prepared for a future COVID-19 surge, according to more than 1,800 nurse leaders the AHA’s American Organization for Nursing Leadership surveyed in July about pandemic preparedness and other key issues.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response awarded to Denver Health and Hospital Authority a $3 million cooperative agreement to demonstrate how a Regional Disaster Health Response System could improve medical surge and specialty care during a national emergency.

The Food and Drug Administration posted updated comparative performance data for molecular tests to diagnose the COVID-19 virus.

Beginning October 1, American hospitals can purchase Veklury (remdesivir) directly from the drug’s distributor, the Department of Health and Human Services announced today.

The Department of Health and Human Services today

President Trump signed into law a continuing resolution that generally extends current federal funding levels for health care and other programs through Dec. 11, preventing a government shutdown as fiscal year 2020 funding expired.

The National Institutes of Health launched the IMPROVE (Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone) initiative, which seeks to improve maternal health outcomes and reduce disparities through research on the causes of maternal mortality and complications.

The AHA Center for Health Innovation has launched the Living Learning Network, a peer-to-peer community where health care professionals can connect, share and learn.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launched a website on the rule requiring hospitals to disclose their negotiated rates.