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The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology last week released version 2 of the United States Core Data for Interoperability, which gives health IT stakeholders a clearer direction toward the standardized and electronic exchange of data focused on social determinants of health, sexual orientation and gender identity.

As summer moves along, the U.S. is marking a pivotal point in the pandemic. A majority of Americans — nearly 55% — now have received one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 48% are fully vaccinated. 

Protecting community members by mitigating the spread of infection and feeling safe in the community were Faye Sheppard’s #MyWhy. Sheppard, a member of the American Society for Health Care Risk Management, an affiliate of the AHA, and vice chair of the Board of Directors for Cuero (Texas) Regional Hospital tells her vaccine story.

Pfizer Inc. will soon seek authorization for a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine, the company said, in an attempt to “stay ahead” of the coronavirus and its various mutations

Fourteen leading U.S. drug companies from 2016 to 2020 spent $577 billion on stock buybacks and dividends, $56 billion more than they spent on research and development over the same period, according to a report released by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

The AHA expressed support for the Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act (S. 1988), legislation that would make permanent several telehealth flexibilities provided under the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency.

As urged by the AHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it will extend to Aug. 20 the deadline for submitting comments on its COVID-19 health care emergency temporary standard.

President Biden signed an executive order establishing a “whole-of-government” effort to promote competition in the American economy.

COVID-19 has been a learning experience on many fronts. Every facet of our health care system has been affected by the pandemic — from providers to patients to hospital and health system CEOs — and we will be sorting out lessons learned for some time to come. 

The National Institutes of Health today in its Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer highlighted an overall decline in can

To mark National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared new resources as part of its Hear Her campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of potentially life-threatening warning signs during and after pregnancy and improve communication between patients and their health care providers.

The National Institutes of Health released a study suggesting one in every four COVID-19 deaths in U.S. hospitals may have been attributed to the dire strain that surges in caseloads placed on hospitals during the pandemic.

The Department of Health and Human Services withdrew requests for proposals on ways individuals could import prescription drugs from other countries where they are typically cheaper and companies could “reimport” insulin to sell at a lower price.

The Commonwealth Fund reported that approximately 279,000 lives have been saved through the U.S.’s vaccination efforts, with 1.25 million avoiding hospitalization.

Responding last month to an AHA letter, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it will continue to remain flexible in its approach to surveys if a hospital experiences a COVID-19 surge. 

In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, events sparked by the murder of George Floyd increased the constant exposure to stress in communities of color, a detriment to one’s physical and mental health, writes Kimberlydawn Wisdom, M.D., senior vice president of community health and equity and chief wellness and diversity officer at Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System, and chairperson of AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity Leadership Council.

Microsoft has released out-of-band security updates to address a remote code execution vulnerability — known as PrintNightmare (CVE-2021-34527) — in the Windows Print spooler service. The Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (CERT/CC), part of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, last week reported a critical RCE vulnerability impacting the Windows Print Spooler service that allows a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code with system privileges on a vulnerable system.

The total number of cancer screening tests women received through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program declined by 87% for breast cancer and 84% for cervical cancer during April 2020 in comparison to the past 5-year averages for that month, the CDC reported recently. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday announced Meena Seshamani, M.D., as its deputy administrator and director of Center for Medicare.

More than 120,000 Oklahomans July 1 started receiving health benefits through the state’s voter-approved Medicaid expansion, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said.