News

The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury late today issued a final rule updating several key regulations pertaining to the No Surprises Act, including what information certified independent dispute resolution entities (IDREs) must consider when making a payment determination under the federal arbitration process. According to the departments, these changes were made to conform with February and July 2022 rulings by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Chethan Sathya, M.D., a pediatric trauma surgeon and director of Northwell Health's Center for Gun Violence Research, talks with Laura Castellanos, associate director of AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence initiative, about the cost of gun violence to hospitals and health systems as they treat a growing number of victims.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday proposed requiring states to report certain quality measures for children, adults and home health services in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program beginning in federal fiscal year 2024. Currently, states may choose not to report the measures.

U.S.-based Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing will fill and finish 2.5 million of the 5.5 million vials of JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine ordered by the Department of Health and Human Services to make available to individuals at high risk for the virus.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released fact sheets summarizing the current status of Medicare COVID-19 blanket waivers and flexibilities by provider type, as well as flexibilities applicable to the Medicaid community. The fact sheets include information about which waivers and flexibilities have already been terminated, have been made permanent or will end at the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Congress has headed home for its traditional August recess. That tradition began, by the way, as a sensible concession to Washington, D.C.’s steamy summer climate, long before central air conditioning came to Capitol Hill in 1938.

Stacy Bank, M.D., medical director of University of Utah Health’s Intensive Outpatient Clinic, and Chad Westover, CEO of University of Utah Health Plans, discuss how they’re providing wraparound medical and social care to some of the health system’s most at-risk patients.

Jurisdictions that have used 90% of their JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine supply and are administering the vaccine intradermally to adults can begin ordering additional vaccine Monday, when the Department of Health and Human Services will release an additional 11.8 million doses to administer to high-risk individuals, the White House announced today.

In mid-December, hospitals will transition to reporting COVID-19 data via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network, which will assume responsibility for collecting the data when the Department of Health and Human Services’ contract with TeleTracking expires Dec. 31. CDC will host a series of training webinars on the transition beginning Aug. 23.

The Department of Health and Human Services Monday began accepting orders from states and other jurisdictions for a portion of 442,000 additional doses of the JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine. To stretch available doses up to five fold, the Food and Drug Administration last week issued an emergency use authorization allowing health care providers to administer the vaccine intradermally to adults.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia should vacate the 2022 outpatient prospective payment system rule insofar as it sets a payment rate for 340B hospitals that is lower than the generally applicable payment rate of Average Sales Price plus 6%, AHA told the court yesterday.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has launched a new webpage wi

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today approved state plan amendments allowing Hawaii, Maryland and Ohio to extend postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months after pregnancy for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollees under the American Rescue Plan Act.

Tune into this Sept 8 educational webinar at 1 p.m. ET for an overview of the Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award, the application process and best practices hospitals should follow to achieve health equity.

The AHA and Association of American Medical Colleges late yesterday filed an amicus brief in support of the federal government’s motion for preliminary injunction for an Idaho law, which is slated to go into effect Aug. 25. At issue is whether the state law can coexist with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals to stabilize care for those in an emergency medical condition.

Some commercial insurer policies may hurt patients, contribute to clinician burnout and drive up the cost of care, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack notes in an advertorial published today in the Wall Street Journal.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed 3.3% market basket update for Medicare home health agencies in calendar year 2023 is “woefully inadequate,” especially when combined with an unprecedented 7.69% behavioral offset based on flawed assumptions, AHA told the agency today. In the letter, AHA strongly urged CMS to halt this proposed cut.

The Food and Drug Administration Friday said it does not recommend screening or testing blood donors for the monkeypox virus, given “the robustness” of existing safeguards for blood safety.

The Aug. 1 Modern Healthcare cover story “For health systems, how big is too big?” starts with a flawed premise “and then searches for validation,” writes AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack in a letter to the editor. “Unfortunately, while the article considers many factors, it falls short in offering a thorough analysis of what successful integration actually looks like.

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., sponsor of the AHA-supported Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act, today participated in a roundtable discussion with Tower Health staff and others at Pottstown (Pa.) Hospital to learn more about the rise in violence and abuse against health care workers throughout the nation. The bipartisan legislation, also supported by the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP), would give health care workers the same legal protections against assault and intimidation that flight crews and airport workers have under federal law, and authorize $25 million in grants over 10 years to reduce violence and intimidation in hospitals.