News

The departments of Health and Human Services and Defense will pay Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson $1 billion to manufacture 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate for use in clinical trials, or to vaccinate Americans if authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 4 released a proposed rule that would retroactively incorporate Medicare Advantage days into the Medicare fraction of a hospital’s disproportionate patient percentage for the Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospital program.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 3 issued a proposed rule that would update physician fee schedule payments for calendar year 2021.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the calendar year 2021 outpatient prospective payment system/ambulatory surgical center proposed rule.

Health care providers should know the symptoms of acute flaccid myelitis and immediately hospitalize those who exhibit them, the Centers for Disease Control said.

A series of free videos from Med Tac offers guidance on how essential workers and the public can stay safe during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The AHA, American Medical Association, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and United States Pharmacopeia convened a virtual summit to examine the resilience of the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain in light of the current state of global pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The National Institutes of Health announced clinical trials to investigate the safety and efficacy of a synthetic antibody therapy in COVID-19 patients.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will allow health insurers to offer premium reductions for individuals with 2020 coverage in the individual and small group markets when consistent with state law, the agency announced.

The Department of Health and Human Services released specifications for reporting certain COVID-19 laboratory data as required by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

The AHA urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to allow hospitals receiving periodic interim payments to carry out their accelerated payment repayment at cost settlement, as was initially communicated by the agency.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled against the Department of Labor regarding its regulations related to certain expanded paid leave authorized by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

President Trump Aug. 3 signed an executive order on “improving rural health and telehealth access,” with directives to: launch a new payment model for rural health care; develop and implement a strategy to improve rural health care infrastructure.

The Department of Health and Human Services updated its guidance and FAQs regarding the agency’s request for daily COVID-19-related hospital data reporting.

The FBI today alerted the private sector to a sophisticated and aggressive nation-state campaign targeting known critical and common vulnerabilities in virtual private networks, initially reported by the government last year.

The AHA issued a Regulatory Advisory with a summary of the July 31 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ final rule for the inpatient psychiatric facility prospective payment system for fiscal year 2021.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will host webinars on crisis standards of care and COVID-19 data applications for state and local decision-making during the pandemic.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services resumed the five-state Review Choice Demonstration for Home Health Services, ending a pause initiated March 29 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Institutes of Health’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative awarded $248.7 million in contracts to produce four new laboratory tests and three new point-of-care tests to detect SARS-CoV-2.

The Department of Health and Human Services extended to Aug. 28 the deadline for eligible Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program and dental providers to apply for $15 billion in Provider Relief Funds available through the Phase 2 general distribution to these providers.