News

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee yesterday passed 17 health-related bills, including legislation that would reauthorize the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Program, and key programs within the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT) Act, as well as other health-related bills.

Many commercial health insurance policies and practices often disrupt, delay and deny medically necessary care to patients.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 13 released its calendar year 2024 proposed rule for the physician fee schedule. The rule proposes a decrease to the conversion factor by 3.34%, to $32.75 in calendar year 2024, as compared to $33.89 in CY 2023.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 13 issued a proposed rule that would increase Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system rates by a net 2.8% in calendar year 2024 compared to 2023.

Main Line Health in Bryn Mawr, Pa., will receive the 2023 AHA Quest for Quality Prize July 17 at the AHA Leadership Summit in Seattle for its systemwide approach to quality, safety and equity. Atlantic Health System in Morristown, N.J., and University of Chicago Medicine in Chicago also will receive Citations of Merit.  

The Food and Drug Administration July 13 approved the first daily oral contraceptive pill (norgestrel) for use in the U.S. without a prescription.

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline has added Spanish text and chat services, the Department of Health and Human Services announced July 13.

In response to recent malicious activity identified in a federal civilian agency’s Microsoft 365 audit logs, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FBI July 12 released guidance to help health care and other critical infrastructure organizations detect similar malicious activity and secure their cloud environments.

Health care engineering professionals will connect to explore new and emerging trends and long-standing issues at the AHA’s American Society for Health Care Engineering Annual Conference, Aug. 6-9 in San Antonio.

Sonja Rosen, M.D., chief of geriatrics at Cedars-Sinai, discusses the health system’s journey as an Age-Friendly Health System and its multidisciplinary approach to providing quality care for older patients in the midst of a workforce shortage.

During the AHA Leadership Summit July 16-18 in Seattle, Meritus Health in Hagerstown, Md., Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., and Rapid City Hospital (Monument Health) in Rapid City, S.D., will receive 2023 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Awards for their outstanding efforts to advance diversity, inclusion and health equity.

The Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security and operated by MITRE, recently announced this year’s Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses, which an attacker could use to control a system, steal data and prevent applications from working.

AHA July 12 joined 64 other organizations in urging Congress to quickly pass the Restoring America’s Health Care Workforce and Readiness Act, bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize the mandatory portion of the National Health Service Corps through fiscal year 2026 and double funding for its scholarships and loan repayment for health care workers who serve in federally designated shortage areas.

The House Education & Workforce Committee July 12 voted 39-0 to pass legislation (H.R. 4509) that would require off-campus hospital outpatient departments to obtain a separate unique health identifier and include it on all claims for services billed to commercial group health plans or their enrollees.

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore and the Center for Hospice Care in Mishawaka, Ind., will receive 2023 Circle of Life Awards July 17 at the AHA Leadership Summit in Seattle for their innovative efforts in palliative and end-of-life care. Prospero Health in Boston also will receive a Citation of Honor.

The AHA, along with members of the Mental Health Liaison Group, recently voiced support for the Helping Kids Cope Act (H.R. 2412), legislation that would provide Health Resources and Services Administration grants to expand access to pediatric mental and behavioral health services.

Health insurance policies and practices are reducing access to medical care, driving up health care costs and increasing clinician burden and burnout, according to patients and clinicians surveyed by Morning Consult for the AHA.

Federal agencies last month stopped over 500 unapproved pharmaceutical products and medical devices, including opioid and other controlled substances, from entering the U.S. from India, the Food and Drug Administration reported Friday.

The U.S. on Friday destroyed the last of over 30,000 tons of stockpiled chemical weapons, eliminating a major public health threat, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today.

Commenting today on draft legislation to reauthorize the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, AHA urged Congress to at least double the proposed $385 million in funding for the Hospital Preparedness Program over the next five years, among other suggestions.