News

The Environmental Protection Agency last week presented AHA’s American Society for Health Care Engineering with its 2021 Partner of the Year—Sustained Excellence Award, the program’s highest honor, for its long-term commitment to fighting climate change and protecting public health through energy efficiency. 

As part of National Minority Health Month (April), AHA shares takeaways from a conversation with the Henry Ford Health System and Islamic Center of America about their collaboration to increase COVID-19 vaccinations in the Muslim community around Detroit. 

The Accelerating COVID 19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) initiative will enroll up to 13,500 adults aged 30 and over in a Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate whether certain drugs approved for other conditions safely and effectively treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19, the National Institutes of Health announced. 

A recent Health Affairs Blog post by physicians “gives an incomplete account of the implications of allowing new and expanded physician-owned hospitals to bill Medicare and Medicaid,” writes Shira Hollander, AHA senior associate director of policy.

Four in 10 transgender women surveyed in seven U.S. cities in 2019-2020 were HIV positive, including nearly two-thirds of African American/Black and one-third of Hispanic/Latina respondents, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The AHA and Black Coalition against COVID April 21 at 7 p.m. ET will host a town hall on enhancing the opportunities for rural health care providers, public health organizations and rural health advocates as they advance COVID-19 prevention guidance, vaccine acceptance and vaccine administration. 

The Food and Drug Administration revoked the emergency use authorization that allowed for the investigational monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab, when administered alone, to be used for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and certain pediatric patients. 

Health care providers designated as health center “look-alikes” by the federal Health Center Program may apply through May 14 for a portion of $145 million in grants to advance equitable access to COVID-19 vaccination, testing and treatment in underserved and vulnerable populations, the Department of Health and Human Services announced. 

As health care organizations increasingly use telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) released a report to help health care leaders assess and mitigate associated cybersecurity risks. 

The AHA urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to allow additional suspensions to its survey process if they become necessary due to new COVID-19 case surges. 

As we get ready to mark World Immunization Week (April 24-30), it’s an appropriate time to celebrate the incredible gift of vaccines.

The Food and Drug Administration today revoked its emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab when administered alone.

The House of Representatives passed by a vote of 254-166 the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act (H.R. 1195). 

The Biden administration announced $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, states and other jurisdictions to expand genomic sequencing to detect and track COVID-19 variants, which it said now comprise about half of U.S. cases. 

The Federal Communications Commission will accept applications for COVID-19 Telehealth Program Round 2 funding from April 29 at 12 p.m. ET to May 6 at 12 p.m. ET. 

Health care providers participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program must administer the vaccines at no cost to recipients, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General reminded providers and the public. 

When President Biden signed legislation on Wednesday eliminating the 2% across-the-board cut to all Medicare payments until the end of 2021, it extended needed relief to doctors, hospitals and other providers caring for patients and vaccinating communities. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of California San Francisco Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences tested a new survey tool to capture patient experiences of obstetric racism during hospital births.

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.