A new AHA task force will work to confirm the characteristics of vulnerable rural and urban communities and identify strategies and federal policies to help ensure access to care in these areas. Chaired by Robert Henkel, president and CEO of St. Louis-based Ascension Health, the 30-member Task Force on Ensuring Access in Vulnerable Communities consists of two subcommittees that will examine the issue from the rural and inner-city perspective. Ray Montgomery, president and CEO of Unity Health White County Medical Center in Searcy, AR, will chair the Rural Subcommittee, and Benjamin Chu, M.D., executive vice president of Pasadena, CA-based Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, will chair the Urban Subcommittee. For a list of task force members, click here.

Headline
Current or prospective essential community providers, which are facilities serving predominantly low-income and medically underserved individuals, must update…
Headline
The Health and Human Services Secretary July 29 announced that dozens of insurers, medical societies, healthcare providers and behavioral health…
Headline
An AHA blog published July 28 highlights new electronic prior authorization requirements that begin Jan. 1, 2027, as a result of the Centers for Medicare…
Blog
As major provisions of the 2024 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Interoperability and Prior Authorization final rule take effect next year,…
Headline
The Department of Labor July 22 released a proposed rule to modernize how group health plans deliver required disclosures. The proposal would create a safe…
Headline
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland July 16 enjoined eight provisions from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ 2027 notice of…