News

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) last week advised biotechnology companies specifically and the health care and public health sector generally to review a new report on a malware threat aggressively spreading through the biomanufacturing industry and take appropriation action to protect their information infrastructure.

The AHA and seven other national organizations representing hospitals and health systems today urged congressional leaders to act before yearend to extend the moratorium on Medicare sequester cuts and prevent the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go sequester from taking effect.

The Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care, whose members include the AHA, today launched a television ad and digital campaign urging Congress to stop the forthcoming Medicare sequester cuts and statutory PAYGO sequester. 

President Biden today called the new Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus “a cause for concern, not a cause for panic,” urging all eligible Americans to get vaccinated and all eligible adults to get a booster if they haven’t already.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri today granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from enforcing its vaccine mandate rule in Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming pending a full judicial review of the mandate’s legality.

Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., Lisa Blunt-Rochester, D-Del., and Richard Hudson, R-N.C., last week introduced in the House the Leveraging Integrated Networks in Communities to Address Social Needs Act (H.R. 6072), AHA-supported legislation that would provide funding for states to create or enhance public-private partnerships to coordinate health and social services.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released 11 documents related to the agency’s regulations implementing the No Surprises Act.

More than 2.4 million people selected a 2022 health plan through the federal Marketplace platform Nov. 1-20, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced last week.

In this first in a series of three Member in Action podcasts, AHA speaks with Rob McMurray, chief financial officer of Christiana Care in Delaware, about how the health system is tailoring its billing approach to better meet patients’ needs.

The AHA has released its 2022 Health Care Talent Scan, a review of reports, studies and other data sources from leading organizations. It provides workforce insights and information you can use to guide your organization forward during this time of uncertainty and continued transformation.

The AHA and its Institute for Diversity and Health Equity have extended until 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 30 the deadline for Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award applications.

On Dec. 1, the National Institutes of Health UNITE initiative will launch a series of listening sessions with various stakeholders in the biomedical research community to learn about issues and challenges facing diverse talent in the scientific and administrative workforce to help the initiative develop priorities and an action plan.

Learn how Virtua Health empowered OB-GYN physicians and nurses to integrate protocols that lowered C-section, hypertension and hemorrhage rates for patients in labor in this AHA Members in Action case study and podcast. 

In this podcast John Riggi, AHA’s senior advisor for cybersecurity and risk, talks to David Ring, section chief of the FBI's cyber engagement and intelligence section, and Errol Weiss, chief security officer at H-ISAC, about the latest ransomware attacks on hospitals, as well as the partnership between H-ISAC, AHA and the FBI to exchange cyber threat intel and to broadcast and amplify warnings.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released guidance on a new web portal effective Feb. 1 for submitting Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program state plan amendments (SPA) and section 1915 waivers.

The Secretaries of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury seek nominations to a congressionally mandated committee that will advise their departments and Congress on ground ambulance patient billing, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced.

A two-dose series of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was 100% effective against COVID-19 in 12-14 year olds more than four months after the second dose in the companies’ phase 3 clinical trial, Pfizer and BioNTech announced.

The Department of Health and Human Services began distributing $7.5 billion of the $8.5 billion in American Rescue Plan Act payments designated for providers who serve rural Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, and Medicare beneficiaries.

AHA’s 2022 Rural Health Care Leadership Conference offers “an unparalleled opportunity to learn and share with rural health leaders innovating at the forefront of change,” writes Michelle Hood, AHA executive vice president and chief operating officer. 

COVID-19 has reshaped health care in many ways. The AHA’s 2022 Environmental Scan, sponsored by B.E. Smith, provides key data and insights on the current landscape and can help organizations explore the pandemic’s ramifications on the health care field for the upcoming year and beyond.