News

Throughout 2021, AHA released five case studies on how hospitals and health systems have leveraged community partnerships to increase access to behavioral health services.

Insights and data from health care leaders can help accurately track national trends and significant developments – particularly in the area of health equity, writes Joy Lewis, AHA’s senior vice president of health equity strategies.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services awarded the 59 organizations helping people navigate the federally facilitated health insurance marketplace $10.2 million in additional grants to support 2022 open enrollment.

The AHA voiced strong support for the Department of Health and Human Services’ proposal to withdraw a rule finalized last year that requires the agency to periodically assess each regulation and determine whether to retain, modify or eliminate it.

The AHA has released new resources that hospitals and health systems can use to encourage communities to stay healthy and protect themselves against the flu and COVID-19.

Pfizer said it has submitted a supplemental biologics license application for its COVID-19 vaccine, asking that the Food and Drug Administration expand approval to include individuals age 12 to 15.

AHA Board Chair Rod Hochman, M.D., and AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack continued to sound the alarm over health care workforce challenges as COVID-19 surges across the country. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed updated recommendations expressing a clinical preference for individuals to receive an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine over Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, as proposed by the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. 

The AHA, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association shared the following statement with the media calling for widespread vaccinations and booster shots during the holiday season as the omicron variant spreads. 

The federal government asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the Missouri and Louisiana district court preliminary injunctions that have put the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services vaccine mandate on hold in 24 states.

Christine Yu Moutier, M.D., chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, offers six tips to help health professionals prioritize their mental wellbeing over the holidays — a time for relaxation and self-care, but also added stress. 

Tony Slonim, M.D., president and CEO of Renown Health and a member of AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence member advisory group, explains how hospitals and health systems are working to build safer workplaces and health care settings as elevated tensions lead to increased reports of altercations in hospitals, in part due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

The Kentucky Hospital Association has established a relief fund to support hospital workers who lost homes or suffered other catastrophic loss when tornadoes tore through the state Dec. 10. The KHA Hero Fund accepts donations through Venmo (search for @KHA-Hero-Fund) and by check to KHREF, KHA’s nonprofit subsidiary.

AABB, America’s Blood Centers and the American Red Cross urged eligible healthy individuals to donate blood.

The U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Program has helped avert an estimated 35.9 million infections, 10.3 million hospitalizations and 1.1 million deaths as of Nov. 30, according to an analysis released by the Commonwealth Fund.

The AHA released its latest edition of the COVID-19 Snapshot underscoring the persisting challenges facing hospitals and health systems during the ongoing public health emergency.

The Health Resources and Services Administration has reopened the Provider Relief Fund portal until Dec. 20 at 11:59 p.m. ET to allow certain health care providers who experienced technical or other problems reporting on funds received between April 30 and June 30, 2020, to comply with the original reporting requirements before the agency recoups the funds or takes other enforcement actions.

Responding to a recent request for input from the field, the AHA urged the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to balance the risk and reward in its alternative payment models “in a way that reflects the significant investments required to launch and maintain APM participation.”

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its COVID-19 technical assistance to clarify when COVID-19 might qualify as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

U.S. spending on health care grew 9.7% in 2020, up from 4.3% in 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported in Health Affairs.