News

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.

The National Advisory Committee for the Hospital Incident Command System encourages hospitals and health systems to complete by Nov. 30 a survey on the system’s emergency management performance during the past few years to identify potential improvements.

The Department of Health and Human Services will launch a national advertising campaign and tour to encourage families to get the updated Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster to protect themselves against the omicron variants before winter and the holiday season.

The Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response recently awarded funding for 13 hospitals and health systems to serve as Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers for highly infectious diseases

The AHA’s American Organization for Nursing Leadership affiliate and the Emergency Nurses Association today updated their Guiding Principles on Mitigating Workplace Violence to incorporate best practices based on the latest research and a toolkit to help hospitals and health systems customize their workplace violence protection program to best protect their employees and patients. 

At an AHA virtual policy briefing today for congressional staff, hospital and health system leaders urged Congress to prioritize actions to address the rising costs of caring, workforce challenges and diminished Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, which have made 2022 the most difficult financial year for the hospital field since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

A shooter Saturday killed two employees at Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Texas.

The Health Resources and Services Administration Friday awarded $13 million through the Clinical Faculty and Preceptor Academies Program and Registered Nurse Training Program.  

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration last week awarded states and territories $59.4 million in grants for community mental health crisis response.

Insured and uninsured Americans children aged 5-11 can also receive the new bivalent Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 boosters at no cost as long as the federal government continues to purchase and distribute them, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced today.

The U.S. Supreme Court should affirm the government’s authority to dismiss a False Claims Act lawsuit after declining to intervene in the case, the AHA, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Health Care Association said in a friend-of-the-court brief filed today. 

As Congress begins to focus on its year-end agenda, AHA today urged lawmakers to prioritize certain actions to help hospitals and health systems address rising costs, workforce challenges and diminished Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

Hospital and health system teams today not only are caring for one patient at a time but also improving the health of their communities.

The FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Department of Health and Human Services today alerted U.S. organizations to a cybercrime group targeting the health care sector with ransomware and data extortion operations. The group has attacked multiple organizations since June, deploying ransomware to encrypt servers responsible for health care services, exfiltrating personal identifiable information and patient health information, and threatening to release the information if a ransom is not paid.

In recognition of National Women’s Blood Pressure Awareness Week, Oct. 17-23, Shanna Cox, associate director for science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discusses the increase in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and how the CDC’s Hear Her campaign resources can help hospitals identify and prevent associated complications.

The FBI yesterday recommended U.S. organizations take certain actions to protect their networks against the Iranian cybergroup Emennet Pasargad, which has recently used hack-and-leak techniques and false personas to target organizations, including one in the United States.