AHA urges the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to extend the deadline to comply with its final rule implementing information blocking provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act to 2022 or six months after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, whichever is later. The current deadline is April 5, 2021.
Letters
Throughout the year, the AHA comments on a vast number of proposed and interim final rules put forth by the federal regulatory agencies. In addition, AHA communicates with federal legislators to convey the hospital field's position on potential legislative changes that would impact patients and patient care. Below are the most recent letters from the AHA to these bodies.
Latest
AHA comments on CMS’ proposed rule on prior authorization.
AHA comments on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2022.
AHA comments on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ hospital outpatient prospective payment system and ambulatory surgical center payment system final rule with comment period for calendar year 2021.
The AHA submitted comments to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services request for information on regulatory relief to support economic recovery. Specifically, AHA urged the agency to take additional action to remove certain regulatory barriers standing in the way of efficiency and innovation, thus allowing hospitals to provide better and more cost-effective care to our patients and communities. In order to achieve these objectives, we ask the agency to temporarily extend certain waivers and make others permanent beyond the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
AHA letter requesting the Biden Administration exercise enforcement discretion with respect to compliance with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ hospital price transparency final rule requiring hospitals to make public, effective Jan. 1, 2021, all of the rates they negotiate with commercial health insurers.
AHA letter to Ways & Means Chairman Neal and Ranking Member Brady thanking them for addressing surprise medical billing as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021
December 18, 2020
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Capitol Building, H-222
Washington, DC 20515
December 18, 2020
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and John Thune, R-S.D., introduced the Improving Seniors' Tmely Access to Care Act (S. 5044), bipartisan legislation that would require Medicare Advantage plans to establish an electronic prior authorization system and provide “real-time” decisions for routine services and items. This bipartisan legislation makes tremendous strides toward streamlining the prior authorization process, and the AHA looks forward to working with Senator Brown in the next Congress to address this critical issue for patients and providers.