News

Health care providers should immediately stop using and discard all ultrasound gel and lotion products made by Eco-Med Pharmaceutical Inc. due to potential bacterial contamination with Burkholderia cepacia complex, the Food and Drug Administration said in an update.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance for health care personnel on preventing and controlling infections during the COVID-19 pandemic; managing health care personnel with SARS-CoV-2 infection or exposure; and preventing SARS-CoV-2 spread in nursing homes.

Commenting on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ physician fee schedule rule for calendar year 2022, the AHA expressed appreciation for the agency’s proposals that support care delivery and patient outcomes by extending the timeline for certain programs and continuing others beyond the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

More school-age children have returned to in-person learning during the last few weeks. More employees are returning to their workplaces. Sports stadiums are filling with spectators again, and theaters and concert venues are welcoming back audiences. 

The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will distribute $25.5 billion in COVID-19 relief funds to health care providers.

The National Institutes of Health yesterday released a study revealing a 38% increase in the opioid overdose death rate for non-Hispanic Black people in four states during 2018-2019.

The AHA released a new episode of PowerPlay, the on-demand video series that connects AHA members to major players in policy, politics and science.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce will mark up its legislative recommendations for the Build Back Better Act, which will be considered under budget reconciliation.

The Department of Health and Human Services took action to provide a pathway for all states and territories to increase access to critical COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapeutics.

As strongly advocated by the AHA, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that it is rescinding prior audit denials for hospitals that had failed to qualify for the “mid-build exception” so that it can review the determinations.

It’s hard to believe 20 years have passed since Americans watched in shock and horror the events that unfolded in New York City, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. 

The House Ways and Means Committee today started its budget reconciliation markup of the Build Back Better Act, which will consider a number of health care provisions, including workforce issues; extending the expanded Affordable Care Act Marketplace premium tax credits from this year’s COVID-19 legislation; and expanded Medicare benefits for dental, vision and hearing.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Sept. 14 at 1 p.m. ET will host a webinar focused on its information blocking regulation.

CMS by Nov. 1 will begin reprocessing claims for outpatient clinic visit services provided at excepted off-campus provider-based departments.

According to an analysis released by the AHA looking at tax-exempt hospitals, non-profit hospitals provided $105 billion in community benefits in 2018.

Two separate efforts are underway to provide the public with a combination vaccine that would deliver simultaneous protections against COVID-19 and influenza.

President Biden today will announce six new mitigation steps for combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new report released today by the Department of Health and Human Services outlines the Biden Administration’s plans to address high drug prices. The report recommends the pursuit of legislation that would enable price negotiation in Medicare Parts B and D, with those negotiated prices also available to the federal marketplace, commercial plans and employers who want to participate; Medicare Part D reform, including a cap on beneficiary out-of-pocket spending; and legislation that would slow price increases over time on existing drugs and speed entry of biosimilars and generics to the marketplace while increasing their prescribing by clinicians.   

Hospitals and health systems employed nearly 3,200 more people in August, as U.S. jobs overall increased by 235,000, according to preliminary data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A report released by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is shining a spotlight on challenges encountered by hospitals related to their public health reporting.