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The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response released several new emergency preparedness resources.

Atrium Health executive Carol Lovin speaks with Sue Ellen Wagner, AHA vice president, trustee engagement and strategy, about board strategies to advance equity and diversity throughout the Charlotte, N.C.-based health system, which received the 2021 AHA Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award.

Most Afghan evacuees arriving in the United States are eligible for health insurance through Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Health Insurance Marketplace or Refugee Medical Assistance, depending on their immigration status and the state in which they reside, according to a fact sheet released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Commenting on a forthcoming Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ rule requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in most health care settings receiving Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement, AHA urged the agency to include appropriate safeguards to preserve access to care in all communities; provide clear information about how hospitals can demonstrate compliance and how CMS will conduct enforcement; and minimize the potential for misalignment and duplication with existing federal vaccine-related policies.

On this episode, I discuss emergency preparedness, caregiver resiliency and health equity — all through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic — with Fritz Francois, M.D., chief medical officer and patient safety officer at New York University Langone Health and a professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

The Colorado Hospital Association named Maryjane Wurth its interim president and CEO. Wurth, who was AHA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer from 2016 until she retired in 2020, will lead CHA for the next several months while its Board conducts a national search for a permanent president and CEO. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that the agency will pay for Medicare beneficiaries’ booster doses, without cost sharing.

AHA, joined by the Association of American Medical Colleges, filed an amicus brief in response to the Federal Trade Commission’s challenge to a hospital merger in New Jersey in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

AHA urged the Office of the United States Trade Representative to extend the current Section 301 tariff exemptions for certain medical devices to ensure hospitals and health systems have the supplies they need to continue to safely and effectively care for all patients. Without an extension, the exemptions are set to expire Sept. 30. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention early Friday morning opted for a broad endorsement of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, issuing interim guidance that recommends boosters for many vaccinated individuals, including those in high-risk occupational and institutional settings.

The AHA urged the Health Resources and Services Administration to quickly distribute the $17 billion in Phase 4 provider relief funds and $8.5 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds for rural providers, as well as reverse a new requirement that capital projects be fully completed before the deadline for using the funds.

The optimism of early summer that we were turning the corner on COVID-19 has been replaced with hard reality. The pandemic will be with us for the foreseeable future, affecting not only our nation’s health, but also hospitals’ and health systems’ ability to improve it. 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI and National Security Agency yesterday issued an

HCA Healthcare and its Tulane Health System in New Orleans have donated $225,000 to community organizations to aid in Hurricane Ida recovery and relief efforts.

U.S. overdose deaths involving psychostimulants other than cocaine, largely methamphetamine, increased 180% among adults under age 65 between 2015 and 2019, to 15,489, according to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse published this week in JAMA Psychiatry. The number of people reporting methamphetamine use increased 43% over the period, suggesting that increases in methamphetamine use disorder, frequent use and use of other drugs at the same time may be contributing to the rise in deaths, the authors said.

John Riggi, AHA’s senior advisory for cyber security and risk, speaks with Edward You, supervisory special agent in the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, about the biggest national threats to the bioeconomy, medical research and innovation. Listen here. 

Cordis Corporation recently re

In a study of more than 4,900 health care workers across 33 sites in 25 U.S. states, the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were 89% and 96% effective, respectively, at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated workers, according to final results reported yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The AHA today released the latest edition of the COVID-19 Snapshot, underscoring the persisting challenges facing hospitals and health systems during

The Food and Drug Administration today required certain COVID-19 test developers to evaluate how SARS-CoV-2 mutations impact their test’s performance and update the labeling for the product accordingly.