News

HHS' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response yesterday announced a $9.3 million contract to develop a test that could help hospital and commercial laboratories speed diagnosis of bacterial infections and determine the best antibiotics to treat them.

HCA Healthcare has donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross to help people affected by Hurricane Florence.

Medicare patients who receive care in a hospital outpatient department are likely to be poorer and have more severe chronic conditions than Medicare patients treated in an independent physician office, according to a study released today and prepared for the AHA.

House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) and member Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) yesterday urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to take AHA-supported action to continue to provide regulatory relief for rural providers.

AHA today urged the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General to create new safe harbors under the anti-kickback statute to enable hospitals, physicians and patients “to work together to achieve value-based care and a patient-centered system.”

The Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today announced the AMR Challenge, a year-long effort to accelerate the global fight against antimicrobial resistance.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration yesterday awarded grants to two tribal organizations in Alaska to increase access to mental health services and medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders for teens and young adults.

The Department of Homeland Security Sept. 22 announced a proposed rule that would limit the ability of legal immigrants to adjust or extend their immigration status or gain full citizenship based on their receipt of public benefits.

The AHA strongly opposes site-neutral proposals to reduce payment for certain hospital outpatient services furnished in excepted off-campus provider-based departments to 40 percent of the outpatient prospective payment system rate in calendar year 2019, the association told the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today, commenting on the agency’s proposed rule for the OPPS and ambulatory surgical center payment system.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has extended the deadline for 2017 participants in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System to request a targeted review of their 2019 payment adjustment from Sept. 30 to Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. ET.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights recently announced settlements that serve as a reminder to hospitals about the importance of obtaining patients’ authorization before inviting film crews on premises where filming could potentially disclose patients’ protected health information.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation last week awarded its 2018 Culture of Health Prize to four communities for their commitment to improving health for all residents: Cicero, Ill., Eatonville, Fla., Klamath County, Ore., and San Antonio.

President Trump yesterday released a National Cyber Strategy, which outlines how the administration plans to strengthen U.S. cybersecurity.

Clinicians assessing patients affected by Hurricane Florence should be vigilant in looking for community and health care-associated infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised yesterday.

The U.S. death rate decreased 8% between 2006 and 2016, to about 729 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the latest annual report on the nation’s health by the National Center for Health Statistics, which includes a special feature on mortality.

Having options is good. Having options when it comes to health care is essential. Patients need the flexibility to get the treatment they need in the setting that’s most appropriate and convenient for them. But a recent proposal by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could jeopardize patients’ access to convenient care. 

Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan plans to meet quarterly with health care investors and innovators to discuss and receive perspectives on emerging opportunities and how the government can facilitate and accelerate innovation.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams today released a report highlighting actions individuals and families, health care providers, educators, employers, researchers and communities can take to prevent and treat opioid use disorders and reduce overdose deaths.

The Illinois Supreme Court today unanimously upheld the state’s hospital property tax exemption law, rejecting the plaintiff’s argument that the statute was unconstitutional because it failed to expressly mention the constitutional requirements for exemption.

The AHA today hosted a forum in Los Angeles in which hospital and health system leaders from across the country shared strategies their organizations are undertaking to make health care more affordable.