News

This third look book from the AHA Living Learning Network, a virtual community focused on transforming health care, spotlights how hospital and health systems are innovating and partnering to advance health care quality and equity and bolster the health care workforce as they emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fair competition has always been the driving principle of our nation’s economy. This includes health care, and it’s the reason the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act, more commonly known as the “Stark Law,” has been on the books for decades to protect the Medicare program from the inherent conflict of interest created when physicians self-refer their patients to facilities and services in which they have a financial stake.

AHA proposed several recommendations in response to a CMS request for information.

The centers will develop and evaluate innovative approaches to reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths and promote maternal health equity.

A record 44% of adults aged 19-30 and 28% of adults aged 35-50 reported using marijuana last year.

The AHA has made a donation to support health care personnel and communities impacted by the recent wildfires in Hawaii.

The Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona is a tertiary referral care hospital. Community hospitals that have patients who have complex health needs and who need specialty care send those patients to us. Through community partnerships — including with local health departments and community-based organizations — all stakeholders can come together to strengthen the health of the populations we serve better than we could do apart.

The Joint Commission yesterday released an alert reviewing how health care organizations can prepare to deliver safe patient care in the event of a cyberattack, calling the potential to experience a cyberattack that adversely affects operations not an “if” but a “when” question. John Riggi, AHA’s national director for cybersecurity and risk, provided expert advice to TJC as it developed the resource.

This year's honorees talk about their achievements, the challenges they faced and the real impact of equity on quality of care.

The National Quality Forum will join the Joint Commission, while maintaining its independence in convening and developing consensus-based measures, the organizations announced Aug. 16.

Receiving a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine or booster during pregnancy can benefit pregnant people and their newborn infants, according to findings from a federally funded study published in Vaccine.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 14 announced changes to its Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health Model starting in performance year 2024 to advance health equity and make the model more predictable for participants and more consistent with other CMS programs and models. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 14 released a request for applications to participate in the Making Care Primary Model, a new value-based payment model beginning next July in Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, upstate New York, North Carolina, and Washington.

The Food and Drug Administration the week of Aug. 7 cleared for marketing the first sterilization system for 3D-printed devices in health care facilities.

The Department of Health and Human Services Aug. 11 declared a public health emergency in Hawaii due to the recent wildfires and waived certain Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program requirements to give health care providers greater flexibility to meet emergency health needs.

A new report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Consumer Representatives calls for regulatory oversight to ensure insurers comply with the Affordable Care Act requirement to cover certain preventive services without cost-sharing.

Vaccines are powerful weapons against most diseases. Nearly a dozen serious diseases —including polio, smallpox and whooping cough — have been eradicated because of vaccines. That’s important to remember as we observe National Immunization Awareness Month in August.

The Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management, AHA’s membership group for health care supply chain professionals, has developed a web hub in partnership with experts from the public and private sector to help the health care field learn about and address the risk of forced labor in their supply chains.

Back to school means back to healthy habits, and AHA’s August digital toolkit reminds the public of how COVID-19 vaccines should be part of families’ plans this year.

While declining 8.4% for people under age 25 and 6.1% for American Indian and Alaska Native people, total U.S. suicide deaths continued to increase in 2022 to an estimated 49,449, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported yesterday. The 2.6% increase follows a roughly 5% increase in 2021.