News

An interagency task force chaired by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FBI yesterday released an updated guide offering best practices and a checklist to help critical infrastructure organizations such as hospitals and health systems prevent and respond to ransomware and data extortion attacks.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee today voted 49-0 to advance H.R. 3561, as amended, legislation that would impose billions of dollars a year in additional site-neutral payment reductions to services provided in off-campus hospital outpatient departments.

A new AHA report highlights key takeaways from nearly 350 health care professionals nationwide who participated in a series of AHA-hosted listening sessions on the state of infection prevention and control to identify challenges, share what’s working, improve outcomes and create better patient experiences.  

AHA Executive Vice President Michelle Hood previews the AHA Leadership Summit, July 16-18 in Seattle, designed to help health care executives and trustees tackle critical health care issues.

Over 30 organizations, including the AHA, urged Congress to swiftly pass the Saving Access to Laboratory Services Act (S. 1000/H.R. 2377), bipartisan legislation that would update Medicare’s payment system for laboratory services to make it predictable and sustainable.

As the House Energy and Commerce Committee prepares to consider a legislative provision (H.R. 3561) that would reduce payments for drug administration services furnished in off-campus provider-based departments, the AHA and other national hospital groups reiterated to committee leaders their opposition to the proposal and to site-neutral policies in general, which fail to account for the fundamental differences between hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) and other ambulatory care sites. 

The Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with Baby2Baby to distribute 3,000 newborn supply kits to new mothers through participating hospitals and community-based organizations in Arkansas, Louisiana, and New Mexico, and eventually plans to expand the pilot program to other states.

One in three inpatient claims submitted by providers to commercial insurers in first- quarter 2023 weren’t paid for over three months and 15% of inpatient and outpatient claims were initially denied, according to data from over 1,800 hospitals and 200,000 physicians analyzed by Crowe Revenue Cycle Analytics.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights should finalize its proposed “commonsense” amendments to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to support reproductive health care privacy, but immediately suspend or amend its December 2022 online tracking guidance, which “aggravates the risk of health misinformation by treating a mere IP address as a unique identifier under HIPAA,” AHA told the agency in comments submitted May 22. 

On this episode, I talk with Jesse Tamplen, vice president of behavioral health services at John Muir Health, located east of San Francisco, and a member of the AHA Committee on Behavioral Health.

Hear how the results of a community health needs assessment in Hardeman County, Tennessee, spurred local hospitals to tackle food insecurity with innovative new approaches.

In honor of National Nurses Month, the American Organization for Nursing Leadership on May 24 at 7 p.m. ET will host a free virtual screening of “Gratitude Revealed,” a 2022 documentary exploring how to live a more meaningful life full of gratitude through intimate conversations with everyday people, thought leaders and personalities.

The share of uninsured Americans fell 0.8 percentage point in 2022 to 8.4%, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week. That’s about 2.4 million fewer uninsured people than a year ago.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health this week revoked eight N95 filtering facepiece respirator approvals and four powered air-purifying respirator approvals issued for the COVID-19 public health emergency that ended May 11, meaning health care providers may no longer use them.

During a month-long ransomware attack on four hospitals in 2021, two neighboring hospital emergency departments experienced increased patient volumes, wait times and stroke patients, among other impacts, according to a study reported this month in JAMA Network Open.

After three years of caring on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, health care providers are confronting a landscape deeply altered by its effects, including the emergence of behavioral health care as an even greater challenge.

The final day of the 2023 Accelerating Health Equity Conference featured Dr. Brian Smedley, equity scholar at the Urban Institute, as the closing plenary speaker.

“As a practicing geriatric psychiatrist for more than 15 years, I’ve seen firsthand the mental and physical toll that anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions have taken on older adults, especially when left untreated for years,” writes Arpan Waghray, M.D., CEO of Providence’s Well Being Trust and past chair of AHA’s Committee on Behavioral Health.

States, territories and tribes can apply for a portion of $200 million in new funding to build local capacity for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and related services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced.

As summer Pride parades and other large gatherings approach, Americans at high risk for mpox (monkeypox) exposure should ensure they are fully vaccinated with the JYNNEOS vaccine as recommended, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised, pointing to three new studies supporting the vaccine’s effectiveness against the virus.