News

The Biden administration announced $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, states and other jurisdictions to expand genomic sequencing to detect and track COVID-19 variants, which it said now comprise about half of U.S. cases. 

The Federal Communications Commission will accept applications for COVID-19 Telehealth Program Round 2 funding from April 29 at 12 p.m. ET to May 6 at 12 p.m. ET. 

Health care providers participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program must administer the vaccines at no cost to recipients, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General reminded providers and the public. 

When President Biden signed legislation on Wednesday eliminating the 2% across-the-board cut to all Medicare payments until the end of 2021, it extended needed relief to doctors, hospitals and other providers caring for patients and vaccinating communities. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of California San Francisco Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences tested a new survey tool to capture patient experiences of obstetric racism during hospital births.

The AHA released the second poster in the People Matter, Words Matter series, this time helping hospitals and health systems talk to and about individuals with a substance use disorder by seeing them as people battling severe illness.

Drug overdose deaths in the United States rose by an estimated 29% between September 2019 and September 2020 to 90,237, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Reps. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., Tom Cole, R-Okla., Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., reintroduced the Social Determinants Accelerator Act, AHA-supported legislation that would provide planning grants and technical assistance to help states and communities address the social determinants of health for high-need Medicaid patients.

At AHA’s Amplifying the Voices of Mothers event, experts from across the health care field engaged in a national conversation dedicated to maternal health equity.

The FBI removed malicious code from vulnerable Microsoft Exchange Servers running on-premises versions of MES software for enterprise-level e-mail service, the agency announced in a notice to private industry.

In this case study, AHA’s Future of Rural Health Care Task Force explores how rural hospitals can establish themselves as conveners in their communities, working alongside other stakeholders to improve health outcomes.

The number of physician residency programs increased by 14% between 2014-2015 and 2019-2020 as the programs transitioned to a single accreditor, while the number of residents in the programs increased by 13%, according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office.

As hospital and health system clinicians and staff continue to take on the COVID-19 pandemic, they are experiencing stress and anxiety at a new level. To mark Stress Awareness Month, the AHA reminds those in the health care workforce of the many resources available during this tumultuous time.

Jim Prister, president and CEO of RML Specialty Hospital in Chicago, AHA Board of Member and chair of the AHA’s post-acute care steering committee, and John Votto, D.O., a pulmonologist and former CEO of the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain, Conn., discuss the experiences of individuals who no longer have the active COVID-19 virus, but still have complex symptoms caused by it

Medicare patients who receive care in a hospital outpatient department are more likely to be poorer and have more severe chronic conditions than Medicare patients treated in an independent physician office, according to a study released by the AHA.

The House of Representatives voted 384-38 to pass a bill that, among other health care provisions, would eliminate the 2% across-the-board cut to all Medicare payments, known as sequestration, until the end of 2021.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices holds an emergency meeting on the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine to review reports that six women aged 18-48 experienced a rare but serious condition involving blood clots and low platelets after receiving the vaccine. 

A recent article in American Economic Review provides an “outdated and recycled take” on the effect of hospital consolidation on wages, writes AHA General Counsel Melinda Hatton.

The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing launched a grassroots and digital advertising campaign urging policymakers to lower prescription drug prices.

Fourteen organizations, including the AHA, urged the Department of Health and Human Services to extend the Next Generation Accountable Care Organization model through 2022, and create a permanent full-risk ACO option based on it for the future.