News

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Friday reopened the comment period for a 2020 interim final rule that set forth certain requirements for states to claim a temporary increase in federal matching funds for their Medicaid programs under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Moderna Friday submitted its request that the Food and Drug Administration authorize for emergency use its bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for children and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 years old. The bivalent version of its mRNA vaccine is designed to target both the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and the BA.4/.5 omicron subvariants.

A coalition of organizations, including the AHA, today urged the Department of Health and Human Services to consider postponing for one year the Oct. 6 deadline for health care providers to begin sharing all electronic protected health information in a designated record set, as defined under HIPAA, to ensure they understand the requirements and have the technology to support them.

AHA Friday urged the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to deny the Department of Health and Human Services’ request to modify a court order requiring it to completely eliminate the remaining 19,802 Medicare appeals backlogged at the Administration Law Judge level. HHS now contends that it cannot fully comply with the order, stating that “it is unlikely that the backlog could be reduced completely to zero by the end of the fiscal year.” In a brief filed with the court, AHA said it would agree to a modest extension, but “the end goal must be the elimination of” the backlog.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday updated its COVID-19 infection control guidance for U.S. health care settings based on current information. The guidance updates the circumstances when source control (respirator and face mask use) and universal personal protective equipment are recommended, and no longer uses vaccination status to inform source control, screening testing or post-exposure recommendations.

On this episode, I talk with Peggy Abbott, CEO of Ouachita County Medical Center in Camden, Ark.

Learn how hospital and health system leaders such as Baligh Yehia, M.D., senior vice president for Ascension and president of the Ascension Medical Group, are creating greater value for their patients and communities by using outcomes-based data to make decisions that support performance improvement and address health disparities

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living this week released its first National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers, developed by two congressionally mandated advisory councils to foster public-private collaboration to support the millions of Americans who provide assistance to a family member with a health condition or functional limitation.

AHA today released the special edition podcast “How Prior Authorizations Can Harm Patient Care,” addressing how some health plan prior authorization policies delay or deter necessary patient care, potentially putting patients’ lives at risk.

AHA today urged the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to deny the Department of Health and Human Services’ request to modify a court order requiring it to completely eliminate the remaining 19,802 Medicare appeals backlogged at the Administration Law Judge level.

Forty-six days from now on Nov. 8 millions of Americans will cast their ballots and exercise their most sacred right – the right to vote.

CMS today approved a state plan amendment allowing North Carolina to extend postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months after pregnancy for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollees under the American Rescue Plan Act.

The Senate Finance Committee today released a discussion draft of legislation to expand the mental health workforce.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia should reject HHS' request to devise on its own timeline a remedy for its 2018 and 2019 underpayments to 340B hospitals, with no limitations and no oversight by the court, AHA told the D.C. court yesterday. 

The AHA and AMA will file an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit filed today by the Texas Medical Association challenging the federal government’s August final rule governing the No Surprises Act’s independent dispute resolution process.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra yesterday declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico due to flooding from Hurricane Fiona, and waived or modified certain Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program requirements to ensure sufficient health care items and services are available.

The House Ways and Means Committee today voted to advance to the full House bipartisan legislation (H.R. 8876) that would reauthorize the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, and double annual funding for the program to $800 million over five years.

AHA is continuing its annual work to help hospitals and health systems encourage their communities to stay healthy and protect themselves against the flu and COVID-19 through vaccination.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday recommended clinicians adhere to all recommendations to prevent monkeypox transmission in health care settings, including using the recommended personal protective equipment.

UnitedHealth Group may proceed with its proposal to acquire Change Healthcare, a federal district judge ruled yesterday. The Department of Justice, joined by Minnesota and New York, this year challenged the proposed merger, alleging that the $13 billion transaction would harm competition in commercial health insurance markets and in the market for a vital technology used to process claims and reduce health care costs