News

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released updated interpretive guidance for surveyors assessing whether a hospital’s Quality Assessment & Performance Improvement Program complies with Medicare requirements, emphasizing the integral role hospital leadership and governance play in advancing quality improvement throughout the hospital.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., today reintroduced the Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act.

Reps. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., today introduced legislation that would repeal a Medicare rule that requires physicians at a Critical Access Hospital to certify that inpatients are likely to be discharged or transferred to another hospital within 96 hours. AHA has urged Congress to pass legislation to permanently remove the requirement.

Hospitals and health systems are committed to empowering patients with all the information they need to live their healthiest lives.

President Biden today submitted to Congress his budget request for fiscal year 2024. The budget includes discussion of certain health care policies, such as Medicare solvency, behavioral health, prescription drugs, workforce and pandemic preparedness.

The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs will host a webinar March 17 at 12 p.m. ET to help advocates keep eligible women and children enrolled in the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program when the COVID-19 public health emergency’s continuous enrollment requirement ends March 31.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released guidance for states on new Medicaid Third-Party Liability requirements resulting from recent legislative and court actions. Specifically, states are required to legally bar liable third-party payers from refusing payment solely on the basis that an item or service did not receive prior authorization under the third-party payer’s rules.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today recommended screening all U.S. adults at least once in their lifetime for hepatitis B using three laboratory tests.

Hospitals, health systems and other stakeholders can still sign the Administration’s Health Sector Climate Pledge, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Climate Change and Health Equity announced today, noting that multiple stakeholders have asked to join the initiative since the October 2022 deadline.

In an op-ed published today in Fierce Healthcare, AHA Senior Vice President of Public Policy Analysis and Development Ashley Thompson highlighted the significant progress hospitals are making in complying with the federal price transparency requirements.

The Food and Drug Administration today finalized a 2019 proposed rule updating requirements under the Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1992, which authorized FDA oversight of mammography facilities.

Dwayne Gordon, M.D., and Richard Pratley, M.D., share lessons learned from AdventHealth’s multidisciplinary approach to caring for patients who experience longer term effects from COVID-19, from chronic fatigue to shortness of breath and loss of smell.

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether silicone tubing in certain hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis systems may expose patients to non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyl acids and polychlorinated biphenyls, the agency announced yesterday.

Contract labor expenses for hospitals and health systems surged 258% from 2019 to 2022 as nationwide labor shortages forced many to rely on contract staffing firms to meet patient demand, according to an analysis of 2022 data from over 1,000 hospitals and health systems by AHA and Syntellis.

The Health Sector Coordinating Council public-private partnership and Department of Health and Human Services today released a guide to help health care organizations align their cybersecurity practices with the National Institute for Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework to better protect the health care sector.

The Federal Trade Commission yesterday extended until April 19 the comment deadline for its proposal to ban contractual terms that prohibit workers from pursuing certain employment after their contract with an employer ends.

The president’s fiscal year 2024 budget will propose policies to keep Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund solvent for at least an additional 25 years by directing additional Medicare taxes and savings from prescription drug reforms to the HI Trust Fund, the White House announced today. According to the latest annual report by the Medicare Trustees, the fund currently has sufficient funds to pay full benefits until 2028.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should require Medicare Advantage organizations to definitively indicate when they deny payment of a claim for service, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General recommended Friday.

National hospital organizations, including the AHA, today urged congressional leaders to prevent $8 billion in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital cuts scheduled to begin in October under the Affordable Care Act after previous delays due to the potential impact on hospitals, patients and communities.

There are excellent opportunities in the coming months to connect with colleagues across the country on the most important issues facing our field.