News

AdventHealth’s Central Florida division is weathering massive financial losses due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, with losses close to $263 million due in part to declines in so-called elective procedures and the need to source personal protective equipment to aid its pandemic response.

U.S. adults were more likely this June than a year ago to report adverse mental health conditions, substance use and suicidal ideation, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Food and Drug Administration warned health care providers and consumers that certain hand sanitizers have tested positive for 1-propanol, including products made by Harmonic Nature S de RL de MI in Mexico.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is tracking an unknown malicious cyber actor who is spoofing the Small Business Administration COVID-19 loan relief webpage via phishing emails, the agency announced.

The Department of Health and Human Services today said it will invest $6.5 million in two laboratories, Aegis Sciences Corporation and Sonic Healthcare USA, to add capacity for up to 4 million additional SARS-CoV-2 tests each month.

AHA, along with the American College of Surgeons, American Society of Anesthesiologists and Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, released Joint Statement: Roadmap for Maintaining Essential Surgery During COVID-19 Pandemic, an update to a previous joint statement released in April.

COVID-19 has prompted many changes in the way hospitals manage and care for their patients. As hospitals across the nation deal with the ebb and flow of COVID-19 patients and shortages of intensive-care-unit beds, North Carolina’s Atrium Health has found a promising solution to increasing their inpatient capacity.

The Food and Drug Administration released FAQs describing the procedures for importing respirators, face masks, and other personal protective equipment or medical devices for which the agency has issued an emergency use authorization or enforcement discretion policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The departments of Health and Human Services and Defense will pay Moderna Inc. about $1.5 billion to produce and deliver 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate to vaccinate Americans if authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, the agencies announced.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced it has expanded the providers eligible for its Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund “General Distribution.”

The National Center for Healthcare Leadership will present its 2020 Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award to Beverly Malone, CEO of the National League for Nursing.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a final report identifying best practices and potential solutions for reducing barriers in the use of telehealth for the treatment of substance use disorders among Medicaid’s pediatric populations.

AHA’s The Value Initiative is providing new resources to support hospitals’ and health systems’ efforts to establish and improve age-friendly care. The Creating Value with Age-Friendly Health Systems issue brief provides best practices for implementing the 4Ms Framework — What Matters, Medication, Mentation and Mobility — and strategies to measure age-friendly progress and enable value.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the Community Health Access and Rural Transformation Model, a new payment model for rural communities in response to an Aug. 3 executive order calling for a new model “to ensure that rural healthcare providers are able to provide the necessary level and quality of care.”

Houston’s Kindred Healthcare and TIRR Memorial Hermann are among the many post-acute care providers that have incurred increased costs to prepare for and treat COVID-19-positive patients and complex post-COVID-19 patients.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of George Washington University Public Health Laboratory’s GWU SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Test.

Researchers have launched two clinical trials to test whether monoclonal (laboratory-made) antibodies can safely prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection or symptoms in healthy adults, the National Institutes of Health announced.

More than 380,000 U.S. children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, which represents 9.1% of cases in states reporting age, according to an analysis released by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital Association.

The American Medical Association released new Current Procedural Terminology codes for reporting SARS-CoV-2 laboratory testing on medical claims.

The Department of Health and Human Services continues to update its CARES Act FAQ to aid hospitals and health systems in understanding the nuances of the provider relief fund.