News

State Medicaid agencies can apply next spring for funding and technical assistance to participate in the Transforming Maternal Health Model, a new 10-year payment and care delivery model that will develop and implement a whole-person approach to pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care for women with Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage.

At its December meeting this week, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission expressed concern about the financial viability of Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospitals if Congress fails to delay cuts scheduled to take effect Jan. 19.

Despite significant and ongoing challenges this year, hospitals and health systems can be proud of the job they do each and every day to care for our families, our friends and our neighbors.

Federal health officials are encouraged to nominate eligible commissioned officers for the AHA’s Federal Health Care Executive Awards for Excellence and Special Achievement, recognizing significant and lasting impact on military and/or public health care delivery.

Convening Leaders for Emergency and Response, AHA’s hub for emergency response and disaster preparedness resources, has released a “tip sheet” to help health care organizations effectively communicate with staff, patients and the larger community during a public health emergency.

A bipartisan group of senators  Dec.

CMS will conduct robust oversight to ensure Medicare Advantage organizations are complying with new access requirements for care and medications. Learn more.

Ellen Brzytwa, R.N., a trustee at the Cleveland Clinic, discusses her mission to recruit more nurses to hospital board positions.

The Federal Communications Commission Dec. 12 rejected an application by Starlink for nearly $900 million in Rural Digital Opportunity Funds to bring broadband services to rural locations, including health care facilities, concluding the application failed to demonstrate the company could deliver the promised service.

Seventy-three percent of U.S. commercial health insurance markets were highly concentrated in 2022, according to the latest annual report on health insurance competition by the American Medical Association.

The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Dec. 13 released a final rule updating certification requirements for health information technology developers under its Health IT Certification Program.

U.S. health care spending increased 4.1% in 2022, far slower than gross domestic product due to slower spending for hospital and clinical services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported Dec. 13 in Health Affairs.

Community health workers have become an essential component of RUSH University Medical Center’s efforts to minimize inequities in health and life expectancy. CHWs provide much-needed resources across the RUSH campus and several Chicago neighborhoods, while also being a driving force for partnerships and programming in a variety of care and community settings.

In new guidance for software manufacturers, cybersecurity agencies in the U.S. and United Kingdom urge every software manufacturer to implement memory safe programming languages (MSLs) and publish a roadmap that details how they will eliminate MSL vulnerabilities in their products.

Five Qualified Health Information Networks Dec. 12 began exchanging electronic health information nationwide under the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, a set of common rules for secure exchange of treatment and other health information required by the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced.

The House Dec. 12 voted 386-37 to pass AHA-supported legislation (H.R. 4531) that would reauthorize key SUPPORT Act programs for patients with substance use disorder and permanently extend required Medicaid coverage for medication-assisted treatments.

The House Dec. 11 voted 320-71 to pass legislation (H.R. 5378) that would delay a Jan. 19 payment reduction to Medicaid disproportionate share hospitals for two years, but permanently reduce Medicare payments for drug administration services in off-campus hospital outpatient departments.

In an unconvincing effort to claim hospitals are not living up to their mission, the author of a recent op-ed in the New York Times ignores the unparalleled benefits hospitals of all types provide to their communities, writes AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should require Medicare Advantage plans to submit additional data and the agency should publicly release the MA data it already collects, a bipartisan group of senators told the agency last week.

The AHA today urged members of the House of Representatives to oppose H.R. 5378, legislation scheduled to be voted on tonight, unless site-neutral provisions are removed from the bill.