News

AHA’s Future of Rural Health Care Task Force has released a report with recommendations for long-range solutions for improving rural health and health care in America.

COVID-19 vaccination coverage was about 7 percentage points lower in rural counties than in urban counties as of April 10, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported today.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency released guidance to help emergency managers plan for disaster response and recovery while adhering to public health guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration allocated to states and territories $3 billion in supplemental block grants for mental health and substance use treatment included in the American Rescue Plan Act.

Building integrated systems of care can lead to meaningful benefits for patients and help hospitals best serve the health needs of their communities, writes AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack in an advertorial published in the Wall Street Journal.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services delayed, from May 15 to Dec. 15, the effective date for its final rule codifying how it defines “reasonable and necessary” coverage for items and services furnished under Medicare Parts A and B.

As part of Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, join AHA’s Joining Hands for Greater Impact series, May 26 at 12 p.m. ET, to explore how to address the unique challenges faced by Asian American and Pacific Islander communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Children and adults in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program used 26 million fewer mental care health services between March and October 2020 than during the same period in 2019, declining 34% for children and 22% for adults, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The Food and Drug Administration updated its emergency use authorizations for two intravenous infusion therapies for outpatients at risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized that its new masking recommendations for people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 do not apply to health care settings.

Millions of people across our country are living with a mental health issue. It’s estimated that one in five U.S. adults and one in six young people ages 6-17 experience a mental health disorder every year.

The heroic efforts of our hospitals, health systems and care teams in fighting the pandemic over the past 17 months is a testament to the dedication and determination of the best health professionals in the world. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released guidance on how states can receive a 10-percentage-point increase in their federal medical assistance percentage for certain Medicaid home and community-based services from April 1, 2021, through March 31, 2022, under the American Rescue Plan Act.  

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will use $7.4 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act to recruit and hire public health workers to respond to the pandemic and prepare for future public health challenges, the White House announced.

In a study of more than 1,800 health care workers across 33 sites in 25 U.S. states, the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines reduced symptomatic COVID-19 infections by 94% in fully vaccinated workers and 82% in partially vaccinated workers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. 

AHA voiced support for the Technical Reset to Advance the Instruction of Nurses Act (S.1568), bipartisan legislation that would prevent a Medicare payment error from affecting nursing and allied health education programs and direct graduate medical education. 

Although COVID-19 has been a significant contributor to the substance abuse epidemic, it does not explain the large number of drug overdose deaths between May 2019 and May 2020 — the most ever recorded in a 12-month period, writes Holly Geyer, M.D., hospital internal medicine practitioner at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.

Join the AHA Physician Alliance for a webinar May 25 at 1 p.m. ET on data-driven solutions to workforce burnout, which can increase turnover and reduce patient satisfaction and safety.

Learn how hospital and health system leaders such as Karen Murphy, R.N., executive vice president, chief innovation officer and founding director of Geisinger’s Steele Institute for Healthcare Innovation, are applying digital technologies to increase efficiency, support clinical decision-making and improve outcomes.

President Biden directed federal agencies to take certain actions to remove barriers to sharing cyber threat information with the private sector, enhance security in the software supply chain and better detect cyber incidents on federal networks.