News

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response Friday deployed a 14-member National Disaster Medical System team to the University of New Mexico Children’s Hospital to help support staff caring for a surge in pediatric respiratory illnesses, such as flu and Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

A recent Wall Street Journal article on hospital divestitures and closures “fails to acknowledge the critical roles that low government reimbursement, population shifts and old infrastructure play” when nonprofit health care systems make access decisions, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack writes in a letter to the editor published yesterday.

AHA today thanked the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission for recommending a 2024 draft payment update of market basket plus 1% for hospital inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems, but continued to recommend a market basket plus 2.8% update for inpatient and outpatient PPS hospitals and 2.7% update for long-term care hospitals, saying hospitals and health systems face unprecedented financial pressures due to inflation and almost two decades of negative Medicare margins.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights yesterday announced a proposed rule with changes to the process for handling conscience complaints, while adding safeguards to protect against conscience and religious discrimination.

President Biden late Thursday signed into law the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill that will keep the government funded through September 2023.

Starting Jan. 1, 2023, Medicare will pay for Medicare-enrolled Rural Emergency Hospitals to deliver emergency hospital, observation and other services to Medicare patients on an outpatient basis.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dec. 27 issued an FAQ document on good faith estimates for uninsured (or self-pay) individuals under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

The Department of Health and Human Services Dec. 27 said that HealthCare.gov signups are outpacing previous years as of Dec. 15.

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services has amended its 2023 fee guidance for the federal independent dispute resolution process, the agency announced last week. Under the amended guidance, administrative fees due from each party for participating in independent dispute resolutions will increase to $350 per party.

The AHA today named Chris DeRienzo, M.D., senior vice president and chief physician executive. In his new role, DeRienzo will develop strategies and resources that improve health outcomes in support of the mission of the nation’s hospitals and health systems.

The AHA Committee on Nominations is accepting nominations for chair-elect of the Board of Trustees and five at-large trustees for three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2024.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency deadline is Dec. 31 for applicants to submit funding requests and related documentation to the Public Assistance program at the 100% Federal cost share for COVID-19 emergency work activities performed through July 1, 2022.

International Hospital Federation leaders recently briefed the World Health Organization on its Geneva Sustainability Centre, launched this year with support from University Hospitals of Geneva to help hospital and health system leaders advance environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient health care, a major focus for global hospital leaders. 

The Healthcare Cyber Communications Center, FBI, Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency and National Security Agency in December warned of new ransomware strains and other cyber threats targeting health care.  

The Department of Homeland Security Dec. 19 released policy guidance for the Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility final rule.

The Department of Health and Human Services today released on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website detailed information on the ownership of more than 7,000 hospitals certified to participate in the Medicare program.

The Joint Commission announced plans to revise 56 standards during the first review cycle of 2023 according to an article in Modern Healthcare.

The House and Senate  Appropriations Committees last night released the fiscal year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations legislation that would fund the government through Sept. 30, 2023. The bipartisan bill includes various provisions beneficial to hospitals and health systems.  

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has issued a Class I recall, the most serious type of recall, for the Arrow MAC Two-Lumen Central Venous Access Kits and Arrow Pressure Injectable Arrowg+ard Blue Plus Three-Lumen Central Venous Catheter Kits.

The National Institutes of Health established a research network to test the effectiveness of community-based harm reduction strategies to curb drug overdoses and deaths. Efforts build on existing harm reduction research and represent the largest pool of funding from NIH to date to study these strategies.