News

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced (https://www.cms.gov/priorities/innovation/innovation-models/lead) Jan. 15 that it will host a webinar Jan. 29 on its new accountable care organization model, the Long-term Enhanced ACO Design Model.

The AHA has published a webpage that highlights facts, causes, effects and solutions that hospitals and health systems can use for reducing the risk and severity of postpartum hemorrhage.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Jan. 15 voted to recommend that Congress update Medicare payment rates for hospital inpatient and outpatient services by the current law amount for 2027 and reiterated its recommendation to distribute an additional $1 billion to safety-net hospitals by transitioning to a Medicare safety-net index policy.

Every year tens of millions of Americans dig deep into their pocketbooks to pay for health insurance plans that will cover both preventive and necessary care for individuals and families.

UnitedHealth Group announced Jan. 14 that it launched a six-month pilot program to reduce Medicare Advantage payment processing times by half for rural hospitals in four states.

Jesse Tamplen, vice president of care coordination at John Muir Health in San Francisco, and Jamie Elmasu, director of community health improvement at John Muir Health, explain how community health assessments, data-driven planning and nonprofit partnerships are expanding access to patients who need it most.

The AHA, in partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina’s National Mass Violence Center, Jan. 13 released a new guide for hospital and health care leaders on how to prepare for, respond, mitigate and recover from mass violence incidents.

The five-year survival rate for all cancers in the U.S. has reached 70% for the first time, according to a report published Jan. 13 by the American Cancer Society.

A study released Jan. 12 by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology analyzed the current state of heart health in the U.S., highlighting the burden of disease, quality of care and mortality trends of risk factors and conditions that can lead to heart disease.

As AHA chair, Dr. Boom acknowledges the challenges and opportunities ahead. He is optimistic about working with members to continue finding solutions and transforming the practice and delivery of medicine, providing “better care for humankind and for people in the United States.”

A Senate Judiciary Committee report released Jan. 12 found that UnitedHealth Group used “aggressive strategies” to maximize its Medicare Advantage risk-adjustment scores and collect higher payments from diagnoses of MA enrollees.

Tina Eden, R.N., CEO of Virginia Gay Hospital, and Jacinda Bunch, Ph.D., R.N., assistant professor at the Iowa College of Nursing and senior advisor to Simulation in Motion-Iowa, or SIM-IA, dive into how this mobile clinical education program is delivering high-impact simulation training directly to rural hospitals and EMS teams.

Several health care groups, including the AHA, Jan.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a request for information seeking input on replacing its Medicare claims processing system with a real-time, cloud-based platform.

The FBI Jan.

The House Jan.

The AHA Jan. 9 urged the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to consider, during its next meeting Jan. 15-16, higher payment updates for the inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems than those discussed in December and to examine Medicare Advantage’s role in access to care and provider financial stability.

A study published Jan. 7 by the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center examined the availability of hospital-based obstetric services in the U.S. by county from 2010-2023. It found 293 counties (8.6%) nationwide lost all hospital-based obstetric services during that period.

An AHA blog published Jan. 8 highlights an EY analysis prepared for the AHA on the ways nonprofit hospitals and health systems contribute to their communities and deliver community benefits, as reported in the IRS Schedule H, that far outweigh the value of their tax exemption. 

Congress returned to Washington this week with a full plate of issues to contend with in the short term as it defines its legislative agenda for the remainder of 2026.