News

The AHA urged the Health and Human Services Secretary to extend the public health emergency beyond its current July 25, 2020 expiration date so “health care providers can continue to offer the most efficient and effective care possible during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.”

With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations spiking in a number of states, hospitals and health systems — and the women and men on the front lines — continue to battle the virus. At the same time, hospitals continue to confront the greatest financial crisis in their history, as our recent report estimates more than $200 billion in losses from COVID-19 from March through June.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a proposed rule revising requirements for value-based purchasing agreements between states and manufacturers for drugs covered by Medicaid.

Black COVID-19 patients were more likely to be hospitalized than white patients in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that looked at cases in metropolitan Atlanta.

The Internal Revenue Service outlined certain telehealth spending flexibilities under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which allows high-deductible health plans with health savings accounts to cover telehealth services before a patient reaches their deductible amount.

The Food and Drug Administration announced a public-private partnership to advance COVID-19 diagnostics.

Eligible hospitals that wish to apply to participate in the Medicare Direct Contracting Model but have not yet submitted a nonbinding letter of intent may do so before they apply for the first performance year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced.

The Food and Drug Administration issued updated templates for laboratories and manufacturers requesting emergency use authorization for molecular diagnostic tests that screen asymptomatic individuals for SARS-CoV-2 or use pooled samples.

COVID-19 has challenged the health care field to retool and reinvent. On this podcast, Priya Bathija, AHA vice president of strategic initiatives, talks with two senior leaders at Atlantic Health System in New Jersey about COVID-19’s impact on telehealth and integrated care.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee held a hearing on telehealth lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Small Business Administration released a revised loan forgiveness application for the Paycheck Protection Program, which implements provisions of the recently enacted PPP Flexibility Act.

The Federal Communications Commission is investigating a T-Mobile network outage that impacted customers across the United States, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission issued its June report to Congress on refinements to Medicare payment systems and issues affecting the Medicare program, including broader changes in health care delivery and the market for health care services.

The Food and Drug Administration said chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate could reduce remdesivir's antiviral activity.

The National Institutes of Health is offering several grants to increase research into the growing body of evidence suggesting that underserved and/or vulnerable populations are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection, severe complications and associated death, as well as to the pandemic's social, behavioral and economic impacts.

COVID-19 hospitalizations were six times higher and deaths 12 times more likely for patients with reported underlying health conditions compared with those with none, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

In a clinical trial of hospitalized patients in the United Kingdom, low-dose dexamethasone (a steroid) reduced deaths by one-third in ventilated patients and one-fifth in patients receiving oxygen only, the UK's National Institute for Health Research reported today.

A bipartisan group of 30 senators urged congressional leaders to make permanent provisions included in previous COVID-19 legislation to expand access to telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries.

The Department of Health and Human Services updated its FAQs on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act emergency relief fund, with specific attention to provider reporting related to these funds.

The Federal Reserve Board announced it will seek public comments on a proposal to expand its Main Street Lending Program to provide access to credit for nonprofit organizations, including hospitals, a move advocated for by the AHA.