News

The House of Representatives last night voted 361-61 to pass legislation to provide $178.1 billion in discretionary funding for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education in fiscal year 2019 and extend current funding levels for other federal programs until Dec. 7.

An estimated 92 percent of hospital workers report receiving a flu vaccine for the 2017-18 flu season, compared with 75 percent of ambulatory care workers and 67 percent of long-term care workers.

The Department of Health and Human Services today awarded Hospital Preparedness Program grants to Nebraska Medicine in Omaha and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to conduct pilot projects to demonstrate the potential effectiveness and viability of a Regional Disaster Health Response System.

The Health Resources and Services Administration this week awarded $12.4 million to help states expand access to behavioral health care for children and pregnant women.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration this week awarded American Indian and Alaska Native tribes $50 million in grants to combat opioid overdoses.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice will host a workshop Oct. 17-18 in Washington, D.C., on health system interventions to prevent firearm injury and death.

Bipartisan leaders from committees of jurisdiction in the House and Senate yesterday reached agreement on the final provisions of the Opioid Crisis Response Act.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security yesterday held a hearing to examine health care experiences and costs in rural America.

The House of Representatives yesterday passed two bills that would prohibit health plans from restricting a pharmacist’s ability to inform enrollees when a drug would cost less without using their insurance.

The AHA and its Institute for Diversity and Health Equity with support from the Aetna Foundation today announced the launch of a national program dedicated to closing gaps in health equity.

HHS' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response yesterday announced a $9.3 million contract to develop a test that could help hospital and commercial laboratories speed diagnosis of bacterial infections and determine the best antibiotics to treat them.

HCA Healthcare has donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross to help people affected by Hurricane Florence.

Medicare patients who receive care in a hospital outpatient department are likely to be poorer and have more severe chronic conditions than Medicare patients treated in an independent physician office, according to a study released today and prepared for the AHA.

House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) and member Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) yesterday urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to take AHA-supported action to continue to provide regulatory relief for rural providers.

AHA today urged the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General to create new safe harbors under the anti-kickback statute to enable hospitals, physicians and patients “to work together to achieve value-based care and a patient-centered system.”

The Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today announced the AMR Challenge, a year-long effort to accelerate the global fight against antimicrobial resistance.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration yesterday awarded grants to two tribal organizations in Alaska to increase access to mental health services and medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders for teens and young adults.

The Department of Homeland Security Sept. 22 announced a proposed rule that would limit the ability of legal immigrants to adjust or extend their immigration status or gain full citizenship based on their receipt of public benefits.

The AHA strongly opposes site-neutral proposals to reduce payment for certain hospital outpatient services furnished in excepted off-campus provider-based departments to 40 percent of the outpatient prospective payment system rate in calendar year 2019, the association told the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today, commenting on the agency’s proposed rule for the OPPS and ambulatory surgical center payment system.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has extended the deadline for 2017 participants in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System to request a targeted review of their 2019 payment adjustment from Sept. 30 to Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. ET.