News

Senate and House lawmakers May 1 grilled UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty about the continued fallout from the Feb. 22 cyberattack on Change Healthcare — the most significant and consequential cyberattack on the U.S. health care system in American history. 

AHA’s Better Health for Mothers and Babies initiative April 29 released a resource highlighting strategies hospitals are implementing to raise awareness and detect heart health needs early, during and after pregnancy.

Eleven organizations representing health care providers, including the AHA, April 29 urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services not to hold accountable care organizations responsible for anomalous Medicare spending beyond their control.

“If you are asking yourself how a cyberattack on a single company could cause such massive damage, you are asking the right question,” an AHA advertorial in April 30's Washington Post, states. “The answer, however, is stunningly simple. Over the past several years, Change Healthcare’s corporate owner, UnitedHealth Group, has acquired so many companies and spread its tentacles so far throughout the healthcare system that it has become ‘too big to fail.’”

AHA submitted a statement to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health for a hearing April 30 on proposed legislation to address Medicaid access and program integrity.

The Food and Drug Administration April 29 issued a final rule that would phase out its general enforcement discretion approach for most laboratory developed tests over four years, citing concern that some of the tests may not provide accurate results or perform as well as FDA-approved in vitro diagnostic products.

The International Hospital Federation has extended the nomination deadline to May 3 for its 2024 awards honoring excellence in hospitals and health care organizations around the world.

The Department of Labor April 29 rescinded a 2018 final rule that modified the definition of “employer” under federal law such that more individuals, including sole proprietors, were eligible to participate in association health plans based on geography or industry.

The Department of Health and Human Services April 26 released a final rule reinstating certain regulatory protections against discrimination in health care programs and activities under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which were removed by the prior Administration in 2020.

The AHA April 29 provided the Senate Committee on Finance and House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations an update regarding outstanding issues continuing to impact patients and hospitals following the Change Healthcare cyberattack, as well as additional actions for Congress and the Administration to consider related to the cybersecurity of the health care sector. 

In today’s episode, I talk with Lynn Todman, vice president of health equity and community partnerships at Corewell Health.

Recruiting a young and engaged workforce is particularly challenging for rural care providers. Susan Wathen, vice president of human resources at Hannibal Regional Healthcare System, discusses the rural system’s unique approaches to finding and retaining future health care employees.

Pediatric sepsis is "an aggressive and unrelenting adversary that knows neither geographic nor demographic bounds," writes Chris DeRienzo, M.D., AHA’s senior vice president and chief physician executive, in a blog about his experiences treating the condition as a physician and the importance of prevention.

Adults age 65 and older are encouraged to receive an updated dosage of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced April 25.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it is a time to raise awareness of and reduce the stigma surrounding behavioral health issues. It’s also a time to recognize how mental illness and addiction can affect all of us — patients, providers, families and our society at large.

Kittitas Valley Healthcare in rural Washington state last year implemented an innovative new model for retaining essential obstetric and other women’s health services in its community.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently released a guide to help health systems and other stakeholders assess and advance equity in health care solutions that involve digital technologies.

NYC Health + Hospitals launched the Helping Healers Heal peer support program to help care teams stay physically and mentally healthy.

The Department of Health and Human Services and National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, a public-private partnership whose members include the AHA, April 23 released a national strategy and federal plan to prevent suicide over the next 10 years. The updated strategy includes a new pillar prioritizing equity for populations disproportionately impacted by suicide.

The Federal Trade Commission April 23 voted 3-2 to issue a final rule that would ban as an unfair method of competition contractual terms that prohibit workers from pursuing certain employment after their contract with an employer ends.