News

Every day the women and men of America’s hospitals and health systems continue the battle against COVID-19. As our heroes on the front lines care for our family members, friends and neighbors, the AHA is focused on three areas – relief, recovery and rebuilding – to support the field.

A new resource from AHA helps hospitals and health systems think through in under an hour how to partner with other organizations to meet their needs during the pandemic.

On this AHA Advancing Health podcast, Darren Henson, director of operations at AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, talks with Lena Hatchett, professor at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, about how despite the COVID-19 outbreak, her facility remains committed to ensuring patients’ needs are met through partnerships within a community-driven, multi-sector coalition.

The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., which provides a forum for business issues confronting the nation and world, tomorrow will host a virtual event to gather insights from AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack and other leaders on their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for Abbott Laboratory’s SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay for the qualitative detection of COVID-19 antibodies.

Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health are conducting an online study to learn how stressors related to the COVID-19 virus affect the mental health of health care workers over time.

A trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases provided preliminary indications that hospitalized patients with advanced COVID-19 and lung involvement who received remdesivir recovered faster than similar patients who received a placebo.

The departments of Labor and the Treasury are extending certain deadlines affecting employee benefit plan participants’ rights to health coverage, portability and continuation of coverage under COBRA, and to file claims or appeal denied claims.

The Federal Reserve Board expanded eligibility for the Main Street Lending Program to businesses with up to 15,000 employees or $5 billion in annual revenue.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced additional regulatory waivers and rule changes to expand diagnostic testing for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, telehealth in Medicare, hospital capacity and the health care workforce during the COVID-19 emergency.

The first AHA Age-Friendly Health Systems action community concluded this month, with 184 health care teams and 12 allied associations across the U.S. participating.

The Government Accountability Office recommended certain actions to enhance federal efforts to monitor and address antibiotic resistance.

Nasdaq MarketSite, the physical presence of the Nasdaq stock market in New York City’s Times Square, lit up with the 100 Million Mask Challenge.

The Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding has launched a free tool for connecting hospitals with 503B outsourcing facilities, or alternatively, 503A sterile compounding pharmacies, that can supply shortage drugs to treat COVID-19.

A new AHA resource examines the impact of the social determinants of health on patients and communities as they battle the COVID-19 outbreak.

From every corner of society, people are demonstrating a desire to help keep our health care workforce safe, write Priya Bathija, AHA vice president of strategic initiatives, and Mike Schiller, director, supply chain for The Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidance for health care providers who care for breastfeeding women and infants who receive breast milk, based on what is currently known about the virus that causes COVID-19 and the transmission of other viral respiratory pathogens.

The Health Resources and Services Administration April 30 at 2 p.m. ET will host a webinar for health care providers on the agency’s COVID-19 Uninsured Program Portal.

The National Institutes of Health urged scientists and inventors with a rapid testing technology to compete for a share of $500 million in funding to develop accurate at-home and point-of-care diagnostic tests, with the goal to make millions of tests available per week by the end of summer and even more in time for the flu season.

Members of the Partnership to Amend 42 CFR Part 2, including the AHA, urged the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a rule as soon as possible on the Part 2 provisions in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Safety Act.