News

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.

Hackensack Meridian Health’s clinical experts have learned a wide variety of important lessons and strategies for managing COVID-19’s toll on mental health, write three of the health system’s leaders.

As National Hospital Week (May 9-15) approaches with the theme Inspiring Hope through Healing, the AHA would like to honor the entire community of hospital and health system team members for all of their work.

The monoclonal antibody therapy REGEN-COV (casirivimab with imdevimab) reduced the risk of symptomatic COVID-19 in household contacts of people with SARS-CoV-2 by 81% in a phase 3 clinical trial conducted with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced.

The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention jointly recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, following six reported cases of rare but severe types of blood clots following the vaccine’s administration.

As part of its recognition of Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17), the Department of Health and Human Services through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved a Section 1115 waiver for Illinois to be the first state to extend full Medicaid coverage to pregnant women for up to one year after delivery.