News

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra yesterday declared a public health emergency for Florida as Hurricane Ian approaches, and waived or modified certain Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program requirements to ensure sufficient health care items and services are available.

Pfizer has submitted a request for the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a 10-microgram booster dose of its bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster for emergency use in children aged 5-11.

The Medicare Part A deductible for inpatient hospital services will increase by $44 in calendar year 2023, to $1,600, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced today.

AHA today submitted comments to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission as the panel considers potential changes to the Medicare hospital wage index, Part B drug payment policies and the Medicare Advantage program.

The AHA, American Medical Association and Medical Group Management Association today urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services not to include a convening/co-provider framework when implementing the Advanced Explanation of Benefits and insured good faith estimate provisions under the No Surprises Act.

AHA yesterday thanked Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., for introducing a House companion to the Healthcare Cybersecurity Act, AHA-supported legislation that would improve collaboration and coordination between the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Department of Health and Human Services.

Health care providers who treat uninsured or underinsured patients with commercially procured bebtelovimab, a COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapy for outpatients at high risk for hospitalization,

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.