News

Nearly 500,000 children and other individuals who were improperly disenrolled from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program will regain their coverage, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Sept. 21.

The departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury yesterday released a proposed rule that would increase the administrative fee for disputes initiated under the No Surprises Act independent dispute resolution process from $50 to $150 per party per dispute, which would remain in effect until changed by subsequent notice-and-comment rulemaking.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today voted 14-7 to advance as amended to the full Senate the Bipartisan Primary Care and Health Workforce Expansion Act (S. 2840), legislation that would cut hospitals and health systems to fund community health centers and health care workforce initiatives.

The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation Sept. 20 recognized 25 state medical boards for changing invasive and stigmatizing mental health questions in their licensing applications, a 47% increase from last year, and 12 health systems (including 75 hospitals and 59 urgent care centers) for making these changes to credentialing applications.

Karie Gibson, a licensed clinical psychologist who leads one of the FBI’s five behavioral analysis units, shares a behavioral threat assessment approach to violence prevention for hospitals and health care teams.

As millions of people are losing their Medicaid coverage as a result of the redetermination process, hospitals and health systems are seeing substantial increases in uncompensated care and facing new Medicare cuts that will exacerbate their financial challenges, according to a AHA blog post published Sept. 20.

The Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (H-ISAC) Sept. 19 alerted the health sector to an emerging threat that targets senior executives through phishing emails that contain malicious QR codes, also known as quishing.

AHA Sept. 20 urged leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to remove from the Bipartisan Primary Care and Health Workforce Expansion Act proposals that would eliminate facility fees for telehealth and evaluation and management services, require a separate identification number for each off-campus outpatient department of a provider, and prevent providers from negotiating reasonable agreements with commercial health insurance plans.

A number of legislative proposals being considered by Congress would impose billions of dollars in additional Medicare payment cuts for services provided by hospital outpatient departments and reduce patient access to vital health care services, AHA Executive Vice President Stacey Hughes said today during a panel discussion hosted by Politico. 

The Department of Health and Human Services Sept. 18 alerted the health care sector to a critical vulnerability in ManageEngine products that allows an attacker to perform remote code execution and which a North Korean state-sponsored actor is reportedly using to target health care entities in Europe and the United States.

Northwell Health Sept. 18 hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who recognized staff at the health system’s Staten Island University Hospital for their ongoing efforts to support his nation’s medical providers amid Ukraine’s war with Russia.

AHA’s chief nursing officer and chief physician executive encourage hospitals and health systems to ensure the questions asked on licensing, credentialing and other applications don’t perpetuate stigma or deter team members from seeking behavioral health services when needed.

The Centers for Medicare the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Sept. 18 finalized select provisions in its proposed rule to streamline Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollment.

Certain policy decisions and challenges in implementing the No Surprises Act have undermined the unbiased and timely process Congress intended and contributed to a higher-than-anticipated volume of disputed claims, AHA told the House Ways and Means Committee in a statement submitted for a hearing Sept. 19 on the law’s implementation.

The AHA and American Medical Association Sept. 17 urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to affirm a district court decision that invalidated a No Surprises Act final rule that favors insurers in the independent dispute resolution process and threatens serious harm to the law’s patient protection goals.  

The Food and Drug Administration will accept comments through Nov. 17 on draft guidance for labeling proposed biosimilar and interchangeable biosimilar products.

The Joint Commission in January will launch a voluntary certification program to help U.S. hospitals accelerate their sustainable practices and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The greatest resource in the health care field is our workforce.

AHA encourages hospitals and health systems to apply by Sept. 29 for its 2024 Quest for Quality Prize, which recognizes significant progress toward achieving the National Academy of Medicine’s six health care quality aims: safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable and patient-centered care.

The AHA’s American Organization for Nursing Leadership affiliate has elected as its 2024 president-elect Ena Williams, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut.