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Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Jan. 8 at 1 p.m. ET will discuss public health initiatives that HHS has worked on over the past four years, as well as activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccination efforts.

The AHA urged the Department of Health and Human Services to take certain steps to speed COVID-19 vaccinations.

The past 10 months have been filled with jarring and dissonant images, scenes that have prompted us to say, “never thought we’d see that in our country.” Unfortunately, we now have to add yesterday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol and assault on our democracy to that mix.  

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 21 cases of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction, among the nearly 1.9 million people who received a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine between Dec. 14 and 23.

Siri Nelson, CEO of Marshall Medical Center in Placerville, Calif., will serve as 2021 chair of the AHA Rural Health Services Council. Philip Pandolph, president and CEO of Meadville Medical Center in Meadville, Pa., is chair-elect. The AHA Board liaison is Joanne Conroy, M.D., president and CEO of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center One in Lebanon, N.H.

States’ decisions to expand Medicaid may have important implications for their hospitals’ financial ability to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published in Health Affairs.

President Trump signed into law a bill (H.R. 7898) containing provisions that require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to consider certain recognized cybersecurity best practices when making determinations against HIPAA-covered entities and business associates victimized by a cyberattack.

CHI Health and Creighton University Medical Center, an academic medical center in Omaha, Neb., partnered to design and build University Clinic, a new primary care-based medical facility that functions as a learning laboratory for inter-professional health sciences education, research and collaborative team-based care.

Penny Wheeler, M.D., CEO of Allina Health in Minneapolis, will chair AHA's Health Systems Council in 2021, and Bob Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health in Edison, N.J., will serve as chair-elect.

U.S. life expectancy rose an average 0.1 year in 2019, to 81.4 for females and 76.3 for males, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently released new webinars and tools to support state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program agencies and their partners in efforts to improve maternal and infant health outcomes.

The Food and Drug Administration warned that Curative’s SARS-Cov-2 test could produce false results and that health care providers should strictly follow its authorization and labeling.

The Food and Drug Administration reminded the public of the importance of receiving COVID-19 vaccines in accordance to their agency authorizations, a process that FDA said will safely provide the “remarkable” levels of protection observed during large, randomized clinical trials.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology should 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, AHA said in comments.

The National Quality Forum’s Measure Applications Partnership recently initiated its statutorily required annual review of the quality measures that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is considering for use in federal programs.

The AHA praised a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed rule that would remove inappropriate barriers to patient care by streamlining the prior authorization processes for the impacted health plans; however the association said it was deeply disappointed that CMS chose not to include Medicare Advantage plans, “many of which have implemented abusive prior authorization processes that act as a detriment to the provision of efficient and timely patient care,” in the rule.  

New research conducted by the National Institutes of Health is shedding light on how COVID-19 affects patients’ brains.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has extended through June 30, 2021, with changes, a temporary final rule designating certain scarce health and medical resources exclusively for domestic use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Food and Drug Administration last month added to its device shortage list several device types, along with clarifying notes and resource links.

Rod Hochman, M.D., is trained as a rheumatologist and immunologist. He started his health care career as a clinical fellow in internal medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dartmouth Medical School and went into practice at the Guthrie Clinic in Pennsylvania.