News

In a new report, the AHA estimates that the financial impact to hospitals and health systems from COVID-19 expenses and revenue losses over the four-month period from March 1 and June 30 totals $202.6 billion, with losses averaging over $50 billion per month.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied the federal government’s request to lift pending appeal a preliminary injunction blocking a presidential proclamation requiring most individuals seeking to enter the United States via an immigrant visa to have approved health insurance coverage within 30 days of entry.

The national generosity movement known as Giving Tuesday has designated May 5 as #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving in response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, is enrolling 2,000 U.S. families in a study to help determine the COVID-19 infection rate in U.S. children and their family members, and the share of infected children who develop symptoms.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have updated their telework guidance to include new guidance on telework best practices, videoconferencing tips, guidance for securing videoconferencing, and specific cybersecurity recommendations for critical infrastructure and federal agencies using video conferencing.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health May 1 announced it will provide funding to help deliver important COVID-19-related information to racial and ethnic minority, rural and socially vulnerable communities hardest hit by the pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued preliminary guidance for the development of forthcoming contact tracing apps that can help slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Food and Drug Administration said it is adopting more stringent standards for COVID-19 antibody tests.

The Food and Drug Administration issued Gilead Sciences an emergency use authorization for the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir to treat suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in adults and children hospitalized with severe disease.

The AHA  sent the Health Resources and Services Administration a letter requesting clarifications for several elements of the COVID-19 Uninsured Program.

The Department of Health and Human Services will begin distributing an additional $22 billion in funds from the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund.

The U.S. Small Business Administration issued additional guidance clarifying certain provisions implementing the Paycheck Protection Program, including whether public hospitals are eligible for a PPP loan.

The praise and support for our health care heroes is a wonderful thing and we must keep it up.

The outpouring of love, support and gratitude shown toward our magnificent health care workers has helped to keep them going in the strenuous battle against COVID-19. The gestures and praise for our health care heroes is a wonderful thing, and we must keep it up.

The AHA and American Nurses Association urged Congress to “act quickly to get needed resources into the health care system,” so that hospitals, nurses and physicians responding to COVID-19 are able to continue to provide treatments, front-line health care personnel are able to provide care and patients are able access health care services.

The Food and Drug Administration issued Gilead Sciences an emergency use authorization for the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir to treat suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in adults and children hospitalized with severe disease.

The Food and Drug Administration issued Gilead Sciences an emergency use authorization for the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir to treat suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in adults and children hospitalized with severe disease.

The AHA, along with five other health organizations, urged Attorney General Bill Barr in providing “relief from the technical requirements of the Federal fraud and abuse laws and the unnecessary risk they pose to hospitals during a declared public health crisis.”

AHA and its American Organization for Nursing Leadership voiced strong support for the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act, bipartisan legislation that would recapture 40,000 authorized but unused visas to help address the nation’s shortage of nurses and physicians. Sens. David Perdue, R-Ga., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Todd Young, R-Ind., and Chris Coons, D-Del., plan to introduce the bill when the Senate reconvenes.

The Health Resources and Services Administration hosted webinars for health care providers on the agency’s COVID-19 Uninsured Program Portal. During the webinars, representatives from HRSA and United Health Group, the portal administrator, reviewed the process for submitting claims through the portal.