News

UnitedHealth Group Aug. 1 announced the creation of a gold card program for qualified practices. Under the program, the practices that earn gold card status will not be required to submit prior authorization requests for certain medical, behavioral and mental health services.

A Commonwealth Fund report published Aug. 1 examines how frequently insured, working-age adults are denied care by insurers; how often they are billed for services they believed were covered; and their experiences challenging such bills or care denials. The report shows that 45% of insured, working-age adults reported receiving a medical bill or being charged a copayment in the past year for a service they thought should have been free or covered by their insurance.

OneBlood, a nonprofit organization that provides blood and blood products to health care providers in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina, including more than 350 hospitals, July 31 said it is experiencing a ransomware event that is impacting its software system and disrupting some of its operations to deliver blood. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee Aug. 1 voted 25-3 to approve legislation that would provide $231.3 billion in funding for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education in fiscal year 2025.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 1 finalized policy changes to the long-term care hospital standard rate payment system that will increase payments by 2.0%, or $45 million, in fiscal year 2025 relative to FY 2024.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 1 issued a final rule that will increase Medicare inpatient prospective payment system rates by a net 2.9% in fiscal year 2025, compared with FY 2024, for hospitals that are meaningful users of electronic health records and submit quality measure data.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 31 issued the final rule for the inpatient psychiatric facility prospective payment system for fiscal year 2025.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 31 released the fiscal year 2025 final rule for inpatient rehabilitation facilities, which will update IRF payments by an estimated 3% overall (or $300 million) in FY 2025.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 31 issued a final rule for fiscal year 2025 for the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system, which will increase aggregate Medicare spending by 4.2% or $1.4 billion compared to FY 2024.

In a new "Safety Speaks" conversation, Jamie Orlikoff, president of Orlikoff & Associates, Inc. and AHA national adviser on governance and leadership, discusses the role hospital boards can play in supporting quality and safety within their health systems, and how board members who aren't clinicians or health care administrators can make a difference in patient safety.

Mary Thompson — a member of AHA’s Committee on Behavioral Health and president of Trillium Place, a mental health and addiction recovery organization affiliated with Carle Health — explains how the Illinois-based organization works to integrate physical and behavioral health services to improve access to care among historically underrepresented communities and eliminate health disparities.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 31 updated the Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings at its Care Compare website and Provider Data Catalog.

At a Capitol Hill briefing July 31, hospital and health care leaders shared strategies and stories highlighting the importance of passing the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees Act (H.R. 2584/S. 2768), bipartisan legislation that would provide federal protections against violence to hospital workers from violence.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 30 issued a final rule updating hospice payment rates for fiscal year 2025. Overall, CMS finalized a 2.9% net increase to payments compared with FY 2024.

Pennsylvania Hospital CEO Alicia Gresham takes pride in being the first African American CEO of the nation's first hospital and writes about the importance of continuing its legacy in care delivery, education and research.

The AHA along with the Federation of American Hospitals, America’s Essential Hospitals and the Association of American Medical Colleges July 29 filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in support of hospitals’ continued right to seek immediate review of any Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services determination that could impact Medicare payments for providers.

The AHA and the Federation of American Hospitals filed an amicus brief in a Texas federal court July 26, asking the court to vacate the Federal Trade Commission's Non-Compete Clause Final Rule.

A fact sheet released July 29 by the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare features analysis from KNG Health Consulting that shows nearly half of all hospital emergency department visits occur after-hours (between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.), when patient care options are limited.

The AHA July 29 applauded a proposed rule by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to address concerns raised by the AHA and other organizations about the potential impact of significant, anomalous and highly suspect catheter billing within the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

In response to a recent Washington Post op-ed favoring site-neutral payment, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack writes in a letter to the editor published Friday that site-neutral policies "fail to recognize that not all care sites are created equal," and that "Hospitals are also held to higher regulatory and safety standards, and they provide benefits such as 24/7 capacity for emergencies."