News

For the 20% of Americans who rely on rural hospitals for their care, the blue and white “H” is among the most reassuring signs they’ll ever see. It signals that expert care, help and healing is available and nearby. Even if that hospital is located dozens of miles away from the patient or family it serves, it is close enough to make a difference — to be a reliable partner in health care.

ombating stigma is the missing element to the nation’s response to the addiction crisis, writes Matthew Stefanko, director of National Stigma Initiative for Shatterproof, a national nonprofit dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the U.S.

Two recent reports by the Health Care Cost Institute appear to use an oversimplified analytic approach and draw overly broad conclusions about price variation and price growth variation, writes Aaron Wesolowski, AHA’s vice president for policy research, analytics and strategy.

Kaufman Hall recently held a virtual health care leadership conference in which Wright Lassiter III, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health System, Eugene Woods, president and CEO of Atrium Health System, and Kendra Smith, managing director, Moody’s Public Finance Group, discussed the key role hospitals and health systems can play in addressing social determinants of health, improving health outcomes for communities of color and fostering conversations to help individuals better understand diverse points of view.

More than 818,000 people selected a 2021 health plan through HealthCare.gov Nov. 1-7, the first week of open enrollment, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced.

Enrollment in private health insurance plans remained concentrated among a small number of issuers in 2017 and 2018, according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office.

As of Nov. 6, about 60% of the nation’s retail pharmacies have agreed to participate in a federal program to administer COVID-19 vaccines at no cost to patients once authorized or licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, the departments of Health and Human Services and Defense announced.

“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good” is a quote credited to the French writer and thinker Voltaire. Although he died in 1778, that phrase is very appropriate today when discussing the Affordable Care Act.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will not update the overall hospital quality star ratings at Hospital Compare in January to allow time to review public comment and finalize proposed changes to the star ratings methodology, the agency announced.

Adam Myers, M.D., population health chief at Cleveland Clinic, talks with Nancy Foster, AHA vice president for quality and patient safety, about preventing flu and treating chronic diseases during the pandemic.

To continue amplifying the important message of protecting against both the flu and COVID-19, AHA’s Wear A Mask and United Against the Flu campaigns released new resources, including new sample social media messages and graphics that hospitals and health systems can use to reiterate the importance of getting a flu shot, wearing a mask and practicing good hygiene.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response has released guidance on considerations for health care providers exploring high-flow nasal cannula therapy, a less-invasive oxygen therapy than mechanical ventilation that has shown clinically useful in treating severe and critical COVID-19 patients.

The Department of Health and Human Services will host an additional webinar Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. ET on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Oct. 6 guidance on COVID-19 data reporting requirements for hospitals that participate in Medicare.

The AHA is accepting applications through Dec. 8 for its 2021 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award, which recognizes hospital efforts to reduce health disparities and advance diversity and inclusion.

Join AHA and AVIA for a Health Equity and Diversity Week discussion about addressing health care disparities.

The American Medical Association announced Current Procedural Terminology codes for reporting on medical claims two COVID-19 vaccines and their administration to patients by dose.

The Food and Drug Administration released final guidance for pharmacies, federal facilities and outsourcing facilities that compound or repackage drugs or mix, dilute or repackage biological products.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Medicare coverage for monoclonal antibody therapies, with no beneficiary cost-sharing for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency. CMS said the coverage will apply to bamlanivimab, the Lilly therapeutic that earned an emergency use authorization earlier this week.

A U.S. district court judge Nov. 3 ordered United Behavioral Health, part of UnitedHealth Group, to reprocess close to 67,000 mental health and substance use disorder benefit claims denied over a six-year period.

The Drug Enforcement Administration published an interim final rule expanding access to medication-assisted treatment under the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act of 2018.