News

The House approved by a vote of 220-212 a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, which included reconciliation instructions to provide the majority party with the means to pass a comprehensive reconciliation package with just 51 votes in the Senate, rather than the usual 60-vote hurdle.

The Health Resources and Services Administration will host short briefings at 11 a.m. ET and 3 p.m. ET Aug. 26 to help hospitals and other health care providers who received Provider Relief Fund payments between April 10 and June 30, 2020, report by Sept. 30 on how they used the funds for health care-related expenses or lost revenues attributable to COVID-19 as required.

Robyn Begley, AHA’s chief nursing officer, senior vice president for workforce and CEO of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, will be a featured speaker during the International Hospital Federation’s World Hospital Congress.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has formed a working group to address deceptive marketing of health plans and other products that “lead consumers to believe they are purchasing comprehensive health coverage when they are really purchasing coverage that does not cover all pre-existing conditions or hospital care.”

The National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women’s Health is accepting comments through Sept. 15 to assist with identifying research gaps and pitfalls in clinical practice related to women’s health issues.

The estimated number of U.S. residents under age 20 with type 1 diabetes increased 45% from 2001 to 2017 to 215 per 100,000, while the number with type 2 diabetes increased 95% to 67 per 100,000, according to a federally funded study published in JAMA.

The FBI alerted U.S. organizations to ransomware attacks by a group using phishing emails to access victim networks and download Cobalt Strike threat emulation software.

As requested by the AHA, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury will defer enforcement of the good faith estimate for insured patients and advanced explanation of benefit requirements in the No Surprises Act, according to new FAQs released Friday

AHA raised “substantial concerns” with the prototype payment model that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, and RTI International are developing for the new unified post-acute care prospective payment system required by the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released research highlighting two important trends emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic regarding vaccines’ current effectiveness.

The deadline has been extended to apply for the 2022 Circle of Life Awards: Celebrating Innovation in Palliative and End-of-Life Care. The new deadline is Friday, Aug. 27.

On this episode, I discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and public health infrastructure with Mike Slubowski, president and CEO at Trinity Health, a Catholic health system that serves communities in 25 states.

In an op-ed published by STAT, Robyn Begley, CEO of AHA's American Organization for Nursing Leadership affiliate and AHA chief nursing officer and senior vice president for workforce, and other nurse leaders share how nurses are helping to reshape clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Learn how hospital and health system leaders such as Jennifer Weiss Wilkerson, vice president and chief strategy officer at Sheppard Pratt, are achieving the disciplined strategy execution required for true transformational change.

The Food and Drug Administration granted full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for individuals age 16 and over.

An estimated 72% of the two largest commercial health insurers in each state and the District of Columbia are no longer waiving patient cost sharing for COVID-19 treatment, according to an analysis released by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

AHA urged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to withdraw its Emergency Temporary Standard for occupational exposure to COVID-19, or at least allow the interim final rule to expire rather than issue a final rule. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a Health Plan Management System memo to all Medicare Advantage Organizations and Medicare-Medicaid Plans to strongly encourage them to waive or relax plan prior authorization requirements and utilization management processes to facilitate the movement of patients from general acute-care hospitals to post-acute care and other clinically-appropriate settings, including skilled nursing facilities, long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and home health agencies.

Patient-to-nurse staffing ratios are a static and ineffective tool that cannot guarantee a safe heath care environment, writes Mary Ann Fuchs, president of AHA’s American Organization for Nursing Leadership affiliate, responding to a recent op-ed in the New York Times.

As of now, most school districts have opened or plan to reopen this month or next, so the return to in-person schooling is underway. Many kids — not to mention their parents — eagerly await the day.