News

U.S. hospitals will lose an estimated $54 billion in net income this year, even after federal relief funds, as higher labor and other expenses and sicker patients impact their financial health during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by Kaufman, Hall & Associates released by the AHA.

The Brigham Comprehensive Opioid Response and Education program and McLean Hospital of Belmont, Mass., on Sept. 21 at 12 p.m. ET will host a town hall virtual event, during which experts and those with experience with substance misuse and treatment will discuss COVID-19’s impact on these experiences, as well as solutions.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services awarded 20 states American Rescue Plan Act grants to develop and implement mobile crisis intervention services for people experiencing a substance use-related or mental health crisis.

President Biden added measles to the list of quarantinable diseases, as recommended by Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, M.D.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized administering the monoclonal antibodies bamlanivimab and etesevimab together to prevent COVID-19 in certain children and adults exposed to SARS-CoV-2 who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and at high-risk for progressing to severe disease. 

The Food and Drug Administration alerted clinical laboratory staff and health care providers to the potential for false positive results with two test kits made by Abbott Molecular to detect SARS-CoV-2.

Pfizer released the first data evaluating a COVID-19 vaccine’s safety and effectiveness for children between the ages of 5 and 11.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a final rule with additional policies for health insurance issuers and the Health Insurance Marketplaces for plan years 2022 and beyond.

News coverage continues to show that many hospitals have been stretched beyond capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each wave has brought incredible pressure on our health care workforce, and the physical and emotional exhaustion is leading to ever greater staff shortages at hospitals. 

The Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee by a unanimous vote recommended that the FDA issue an emergency use authorization that would enable COVID-19 vaccine boosters for individuals age 65 and older and those at high risk for severe COVID-19, administered at least six months after a completed initial two-dose mRNA regimen.

For nearly 20 grueling months, hospitals and health systems – and their steadfast front-line caregivers – have risen to the incredible challenges caused by COVID-19. 

Percy Allen II, past president of the National Association of Health Services Executives, died Sept. 12 at age 80. Among other leadership positions, he served as assistant administrator at Parkview Memorial Hospital in Ft. Wayne, Ind.; CEO at North Central Bronx Hospital in New York; vice president of hospital affairs/CEO at University of Brooklyn SUNY Health Science Center; and CEO of Bon Secours Health System. 

The AHA and its Institute for Diversity and Health Equity are now accepting applications for the 2022 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Awards. The awards recognize hospitals and health systems that are proactive in advancing diversity, health equity and equitable health care through data, leadership, governance, cultural awareness and community partnerships.

Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., introduced a bicameral resolution designating Sept. 17 as National Physician Suicide Awareness Day.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed the comparative effectiveness of the three Food and Drug Administration-authorized COVID-19 vaccines, with Moderna’s vaccine deemed most effective at preventing hospitalizations.

The Health Resources and Services Administration awarded $342 million to expand home visiting services to pregnant women and parents with young children in U.S. states and territories.

Health care providers and patients should not use compounded products marketed as sterile by Greenpark Compounding Pharmacy due to a lack of sterility assurance, the Food and Drug Administration announced.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will invest $2.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act to help public health and other partners fight COVID-19 and other emerging infections in health care facilities, the Biden Administration announced.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response announced a major change in the distribution of COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapies.

Commenting on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ hospital outpatient prospective payment system and ambulatory surgical center payment system proposed rule for calendar year 2022, AHA continued to urge the agency to restore full OPPS payment for hospital outpatient clinic visits to grandfathered off-campus provider-based departments.