News

There’s something unique about the alignment of physicians, nurses, other health care professionals and hospital and health system leaders in serving patients: We are all in it together. We all have shared opportunities and shared challenges.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a five-part webinar series on its Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements, which offer guidance to help clinicians, hospitals and health sy

The AHA CLEAR Crisis Leadership Video Series, now available on demand, features hospital and health system leaders sharing insights, strategies and lessons learned on navigating public health emergencies ranging from mass violence incidents to natural disasters to cyberattacks.

The House Ways and Means Committee Jan. 19 voted 40-3 to advance the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024.

For many people, choosing an MA plan is a life-changing event and a significant act of trust, counting on the payer they selected to provide the pre-agreed upon coverage for either current medical needs or those that may arise.

The departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury will reopen the public comment period for their proposed rule to improve the No Surprises Act independent dispute resolution process for 14 days beginning Jan. 22 to provide additional time for interested parties to comment.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will select up to eight states to participate in a new Medicaid model to launch this fall for adult Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries with mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders.

A dual-rate payment system and other factors have sharply increased losses for long-term care hospitals caring for the most severely ill patients under Medicare’s LTCH Prospective Payment System, according to a new AHA white paper, which recommends changes to the payment system’s high-cost outlier policy to help stabilize payment for these hospitals and ensure continued access to care for these beneficiaries.

The Senate Jan. 18 passed a continuing resolution (H.R. 2872) funding four appropriations bills through March 1 and the remaining eight appropriations bills through March 8.

Suzanne Bentley, M.D., chief wellness officer at New York City Health and Hospitals Elmhurst, discusses the critical role of peer support in employee mental health and the impact of building infrastructure focused on the well-being of staff.

In an interview Jan. 17 in the Washington Post’s Health 202 newsletter, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack explains why ‘site-neutral’ Medicare proposals jeopardize access to hospital care for vulnerable populations, the need to delay impending cuts to Medicaid disproportionate share hospitals and other congressional priorities for the field.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Jan. 17 released a final rule requiring Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and federally facilitated Marketplace plans to streamline their prior authorization processes. AHA has urged the agency to finalize the rule to alleviate provider burden and ensure timely access to care for patients. 

The top three challenges facing nurse leaders are staff recruitment and retention, financial resource availability and workplace violence, according to AONL Foundation’s 2024 Longitudinal Nurse Leadership Insight Study.

The FBI, Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center Jan. 12 reported ongoing bomb threats by malicious actors targeting synagogues, Jewish community centers, schools, hospitals, airports, government buildings and other public institutions in the United States.

Seventeen state hospital associations and 30 hospitals and health systems Jan. 12 filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the AHA in its lawsuit challenging a Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights rule that restricts the use of standard third-party web technologies that capture IP addresses on portions of hospitals’ public-facing webpages.

Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., Jan. 12 introduced a House version of the Mapping America’s Pharmaceutical Supply Act, legislation that would require the Department of Health and Human Services to update its essential medicines list and create a database to help predict vulnerabilities in the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain.

An overarching approach to the coming year can be summed up as “letting the data speak and guide us,” writes Joy Lewis, AHA’s senior vice president for health equity strategies and executive director of the organization’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity.

The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics should consider taking certain actions before finalizing its recommendations on the potential use of ICD-11 for morbidity coding, including working with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to determine if the potential benefits outweigh the health care operational issues, AHA told the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics Jan. 12.

The AHA has been made aware of a validated IT help desk social engineering scheme that uses the stolen identity of revenue cycle employees or employees in other sensitive financial roles.

As congressional leaders continue to hammer out annual spending bills ahead of the Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 deadlines to fund various agencies, a number of important issues affecting hospitals and health systems are being considered.