News

The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the first over-the-counter fully at-home diagnostic test for COVID-19. The antigen test for persons age 2 and older can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a nasal swab sample in about 20 minutes.

Ahead of a Dec. 17 meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the Food and Drug Administration released a briefing document confirming Moderna’s data on the safety and efficacy of the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

 In an open letter, the AHA, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association thanked health care professionals for their dedication and sacrifices this year and urged them to continue their battle against COVID-19 by taking a vaccine and sharing their experience with others.

A bipartisan group of senators and representatives released legislative text for both the Emergency Coronavirus Relief Act of 2020, a $748 billion COVID-19 relief package that boosts funding for health care providers, vaccines and testing, and the Bipartisan State and Local Support and Small Business Protections Act that provides $160 billion in state and local aid, as well as certain liability protections for employers, which extend to health care providers in some instances.

The AHA, joined by four other national hospital groups and hospital pharmacists representing participants in the 340B drug pricing program, filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services over the department’s failure to enforce program requirements and halt drug company actions that undermine the program.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center are alerting organizations to a global cyberattack using a hidden back door or “trojanized” legitimate updates to the SolarWinds Orion performance monitoring platform to access public and private networks.

AHA commented on the No Surprises Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation released Friday to address surprise medical bills.

Combining the anti-inflammatory drug baricitinib with the antiviral drug remdesivir reduced the median recovery time for hospitalized COVID-19 patients from eight to seven days, according to clinical trial results published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In this three-part series, Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas shares its most successful tools and approaches to help spot and reduce risk factors for suicide.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently posted information on how hospitals and other health care providers should bill Medicare for administering COVID-19 vaccines.

The Department of Health and Human Services Dec. 11 announced it would purchase from Moderna 100 million additional doses of its mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Following the Food and Drug Administration’s Dec. 11 emergency use authorization of Pfizer, Inc.’s BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, AHA released a Special Bulletin with important details for hospitals and health systems.

It was not at all the year I expected, and it certainly wasn’t the year any of us wanted. But, through it all, I continually found inspiration. Even now in the uncertainty of what 2021 will bring, I’m reassured knowing that no matter what, the teams who power our hospitals and health systems across America are continuing the fight against COVID-19.

“In this time of gratitude, our hope, and our request for the health care workers continuing to show up every day, is that you remember to show yourself compassion this holiday season,” writes Robyn Begley, AHA senior vice president and chief nursing officer and CEO of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.

The AHA filed a declaration supporting other organizations seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from cutting under its Most Favored Nation Model payments for certain Medicare Part B drugs and biologicals to no more than the lowest price that drug manufacturers receive in other similar countries.

The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury finalized a rule allowing grandfathered health plans to increase enrollees’ premiums and cost-sharing amounts beyond what is currently allowed.

A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis based on 14 states found that the cumulative incidence of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases among American Indian and Alaska Native persons was 3.5 times higher than among white persons, underscoring the need to develop collaborative approaches with federal, state, municipal and tribal agencies to minimize the impact of COVID-19 on these communities.

The Senate passed by voice vote a continuing resolution that generally extends current federal funding levels for health care and all other programs through Dec. 18, preventing a government shutdown when fiscal year 2020 funding expires tonight.

he AHA expressed support for the bipartisan Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act (S. 4349/H.R. 8094), legislation that aims to reduce and prevent burnout, behavioral disorders and suicide among health care professionals.

The Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Dec. 10 recommended the approval of Pfizer, Inc.’s BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. The panel voted 17-4, with one abstention, that FDA issue an emergency use authorization.