News

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released a toolkit to help health care providers and others prepare for the July 16 launch of 988, the new phone number for anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts or a mental health or substance use crisis to speak, text or chat with a trained crisis counselor.

Pfizer asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a second booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine for adults age 65 and older who received an initial booster of any authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine, based on data from Israel showing the additional booster reduced infections and severe illness when the omicron variant was circulating.

The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recommended all organizations take action to prevent Russian state-sponsored actors from exploiting vulnerabilities in multifactor authentication (MFA) protocols and Windows print spooler. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released states’ final disproportionate share hospital allotments for fiscal years 2018 and 2019, and their preliminary DSH allotments for FY 2020 and 2021.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission released its March report to Congress, which includes recent recommendations for hospital and other Medicare payment systems in fiscal year 2023 and a description of its prototype value-based purchasing program for post-acute care providers. 

Weekly COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates among U.S. infants and children under age 5 have declined since peaking Jan. 8, but peak rates during omicron predominance were about five times those during delta predominance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced $25.6 million in grants to expand access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder and prevent the misuse of prescription drugs.

Without additional funding from Congress, the U.S. cannot secure sufficient COVID-19 vaccine boosters and variant-specific vaccines for all Americans; reimburse providers to test, treat and vaccinate the uninsured; provide monoclonal antibody therapies to states; or sustain testing capacity, among other actions, according to a White House announcement. 

The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions committee voted 20-2 to advance, as amended, the PREVENT Pandemics Act (S. 3799), bipartisan legislation to strengthen the nation’s public health and medical preparedness and response systems in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a learning collaborative and webinar series to help state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program agencies improve maternal and infant health by reducing cesarean deliveries for low-risk pregnancies.

In a civil class action lawsuit alleging Sutter Health and certain affiliates violated federal antitrust law in their arrangements with health plans, a federal jury unanimously ruled in favor of the Sacramento, Calif.-based integrated health care network.  

The Food and Drug Administration recently authorized extending from six to nine months the shelf life for refrigerated Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius (about 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit), based on data submitted by the company. 

Health care providers who received Provider Relief Fund payments exceeding $10,000 total between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2020, must report to the Health Resources and Services Administration by March 31 on how they used those funds or face enforcement actions such as repayment or exclusion from receiving or retaining future PRF payments.

One week in early March every year is designated as Patient Safety Awareness Week, a national recognition to encourage everyone to learn more about health care safety.  

The Transportation Security Administration will continue to require masks on public transportation through April 18 to protect against COVID-19, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends. 

As the COVID-19 vaccine continues rolling out to pediatric populations, historically marginalized communities may have questions about the safety of the vaccine.

In a study of 1,364 children aged 5-15, two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduced the risk of omicron infection by 31% in those under 12 and 59% in older children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The AHA and Federation of American Hospitals today urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to deny Doctors Hospital at Renaissance an exception to the physician self-referral prohibition because the request “is inconsistent with Congress’s intent, does not serve a valid public policy purpose and would set a bad precedent.”

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI and U.S. Secret Service this week issued an updated advisory on the Russian-speaking Conti ransomware gang to include a list of over 100 domain names and naming characteristics used to distribute the ransomware and conduct attacks. 

Effective April 4, the Department of Health and Human Services will no longer require COVID-19 testing facilities to report negative results for tests authorized for use under a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment certificate of waiver, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.