News

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first fecal microbiota product taken orally to prevent recurrent C. difficile infection. 

In a study of adults hospitalized between February 2022 and February 2023, when the omicron variant predominated, monovalent mRNA vaccination was 76% effective at preventing COVID-19-associated invasive mechanical ventilation and death up to 6 months after the last dose and 56% effective at least one year after the last dose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released two proposed rules focused on ensuring access to services for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program beneficiaries across fee-for-service and managed care delivery systems.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today announced changes to its enforcement process for the hospital price transparency rule. CMS said it will now automatically impose a civil monetary penalty if hospitals fail to submit a corrective action plan on time or fail to complete the CAP within 45 days.

A senior executive from Children’s Hospital Colorado shares how the pediatric health system managed an unprecedented surge in patients with COVID-19, RSV and flu.

Commenting April 25 on a proposed rule implementing statutory changes to how Medicaid calculates the hospital-specific limit for certain Disproportionate Share Hospitals, AHA said it remains concerned that the changes will lower the hospital-specific DSH limit at a time when hospitals can least afford it.

AHA on April 26 submitted a statement to the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions for a hearing on ways to reduce health care costs.

Tax-exempt hospitals both meet and exceed any requirements and expectations that attach to the privilege of tax exemption, AHA General Counsel and Secretary Melinda Hatton

The AHA strongly opposes legislation that would lead to additional site-neutral payment cuts and threaten access to patient care, Ashley Thompson, AHA senior vice president of public policy analysis and development, told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health today during a hearing focused on a number of legislative proposals that would affect hospitals and other parts of the health care system.

AHA presented Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi with the Award of Honor.  

A new AHIP report makes baseless claims that hospitals drive up specialty drug costs when in fact insurance companies drive up profits by steering patients to their own specialty pharmacies, write AHA’s Mark Howell, director of policy and patient safety, and Bharath Krishnamurthy, director of health analytics and policy.

FBI Director Christopher Wray detailed how the U.S. health care system has become a valuable target for cyberattacks from nation-states and independent cybercriminals, and how hospitals can team up with the FBI to defend against and, ideally, prevent such attacks.

Mary Beth Kingston, chief nursing officer for Advocate Health and an AHA trustee, moderated a discussion with Reps. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., and Larry Bucshon, M.D., R-Ind., about their co-sponsorship of the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees Act, which would make assaulting a health care worker a federal crime, similar to federal protections for airline workers.  

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., spoke to attendees about the role of Congress as the health care field moves beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when the entire country “learned just how essential essential workers are.”

Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., told attendees he supports making permanent some flexibilities initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic that have improved the nation’s health care system.

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., stressed that patients expect hospitals to put them first, and challenged the field to have “tough conversations” about how to ensure that continues to happen. 

Sen. Roger Marshall, M.D., R-Kan., opened the federal forum closing plenary by running down a list of concerns facing hospitals in his home state, and the value of the rural emergency hospital model to support remote communities. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a proposed rule that would extend Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage to qualified individuals in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in states that cover legally residing immigrant children and pregnant women.

The AHA April 24 presented its 2023 Award of Honor to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi for her efforts to advance health care throughout her career.

Read the recap of the first two days of the 2023 meeting from Washington, DC.