News

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center highly recommends all health sector organizations immediately test and deploy a critical OpenSSL patch when it becomes available Nov. 1, because many of the most common operating systems and applications use the OpenSSL software library for secure communications.

The AHA’s Association for the Health Care Environment professional membership group has elected two members to three-year terms on its advisory board beginning Jan. 1: Tom Mattice, senior director of environmental services at Montefiore Nyack (N.Y.) Hospital; and Sade' Rolon, associate vice president of environmental services at ProMedica Health System in Toledo, Ohio.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Friday finalized a rule updating Medicare enrollment and eligibility rules to strengthen coverage and ease enrollment, as required by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. AHA expressed support for the updates in an April letter to the agency.

On this episode, I talk with Joanne M. Conroy, M.D., CEO and president of Dartmouth Health. Conroy also is the Chair-elect Designate of the AHA Board of Trustees.

In the latest podcast in AHA’s Advancing Health podcast series on leading initiatives to transform care and advance equity, leaders from Montage Health and Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System in California share how the health systems collaborated to reduce Type 2 diabetes in their communities, an initiative AHA recognized with a 2022 Dick Davidson NOVA Award.

A new AHA video features hospital and health system leaders from across the country sharing how severe financial pressures

The average annual premium for employer-sponsored family health coverage rose 1.1% in the first part of this year to $22,463, including employer and worker contributions, according to the latest annual survey of employer-sponsored health insurance by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average annual premium for single coverage increased 2.2% to $7,911.

After Election Day, lawmakers will return to Washington to consider many important issues, including funding the government, the annual must-pass defense bill, hurricane aid, election reform and tax extenders.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday approved state plan amendments allowing Georgia and Pennsylvania 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.

Join more than 2,800 care sites that are part of the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement, addressing the unique care needs of patients age 65 and older. The AHA is leading its fourth virtual action community this fall, providing free access to live webinars, resources and customized coaching. Past action community participants have reduced hospital readmissions, prevented patient falls and improved value and patient satisfaction.

Overall cancer death rates continued to decline between 2015 and 2019 for men, women and children and all major racial and ethnic groups, according to the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. The overall death rate fell an average 2.3% per year in men and 1.9% per year in women, led by declining rates for lung cancer and melanoma.

Black patients who sought outpatient care for COVID-19 between January and July 2022 were 36% less likely than white patients to receive the antiviral pill Paxlovid, while Hispanic patients were 30% less likely than non-Hispanic patients to receive the treatment, according to a study released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on sites participating in the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network.

On Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. ET, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will host a webinar to review and answer questions about its new web form for submitting Notice of Offers to certified Independent Dispute Resolution entities under the No Surprises Act. The webinar also will review changes to the Notice of Initiation web form.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday updated its COVID-19 guidance pertaining to vaccination requirements for health care providers. The updated guidance for health care providers includes changes to CMS’ surveyor guidance, and possible associated enforcement action, for hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, long-term care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and other health care providers.

As an increasing number of rural hospitals have been forced to shut their doors for good, difficult choices face those that remain open. Get the read on the current landscape from Jeff Subler, president and CEO of Wayne HealthCare in Greenville, Ohio, which serves a rural and agricultural population of 50,000.

Most states expect their Medicaid enrollment to decline and spending to increase when enhanced federal funding and the requirement to maintain continuous enrollment eventually end with the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to the latest annual survey of state Medicaid directors by the Kaiser Family Foundation. States receiving enhanced federal funding under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act must provide continuous coverage for Medicaid enrollees until the end of the quarter in which the COVID-19 public health emergency ends.

AHA Oct. 20 took part in the latest health care sector-focused webinar organized by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, showcasing a series of tools hospitals are using to achieve sustainability. Michelle Hood, AHA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, highlighted the benefits of the Energy to Care sustainability program, which was developed by AHA’s American Society for Health Care Engineering to enable health care professionals to add value to their organizations via an environmental sustainability focus.

The Department of Health and Human Services will host a Nov. 14 listening session with health care systems and other stakeholders on its plan to create a National Healthcare System Action Alliance to Advance Patient Safety. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra will invite U.S. health care systems and other stakeholders to join the Action Alliance to advance safety for patients and health care workers.

Starting today, consumers can preview their 2023 health coverage options at the federally facilitated Health Insurance Marketplace. Open enrollment for the 2023 marketplace runs Nov. 1 through Jan. 15, with coverage starting Jan. 1 for consumers who enroll by midnight on Dec. 15.

As the monkeypox outbreak slows in the U.S., a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlights devastating outcomes of monkeypox for people with severely weakened immune systems, particularly those with untreated HIV. The report examines 57 patients hospitalized with severe monkeypox since early August, including 12 who died.