News

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response awarded to Denver Health and Hospital Authority a $3 million cooperative agreement to demonstrate how a Regional Disaster Health Response System could improve medical surge and specialty care during a national emergency.

The Food and Drug Administration posted updated comparative performance data for molecular tests to diagnose the COVID-19 virus.

Beginning October 1, American hospitals can purchase Veklury (remdesivir) directly from the drug’s distributor, the Department of Health and Human Services announced today.

The Department of Health and Human Services today

President Trump signed into law a continuing resolution that generally extends current federal funding levels for health care and other programs through Dec. 11, preventing a government shutdown as fiscal year 2020 funding expired.

The National Institutes of Health launched the IMPROVE (Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone) initiative, which seeks to improve maternal health outcomes and reduce disparities through research on the causes of maternal mortality and complications.

The AHA Center for Health Innovation has launched the Living Learning Network, a peer-to-peer community where health care professionals can connect, share and learn.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launched a website on the rule requiring hospitals to disclose their negotiated rates.

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform launched a two-day hearing to examine pricing practices for some of the nation’s costliest drugs.

The House of Representatives passed by voice vote the AHA-supported Helping Medicaid Offer Maternity Services Act (H.R. 4996), as amended.

An experimental mRNA vaccine for the COVID-19 virus generated a strong immune response in older adults in a phase 1 clinical trial, who generally tolerated it well, the National Institutes of Health reports.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded nearly $234 million to improve COVID-19 testing for underserved and vulnerable populations, such as African Americans, American Indians/Alaskan Natives, Latinos/Latinas, Native Hawaiians, older adults, pregnant women and those who are homeless or incarcerated.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau has extended to Dec. 31 the deadline for recipients of COVID-19 Telehealth Program funding to purchase and implement eligible telehealth devices and services to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Trump administration began distributing 150 million rapid point-of-care tests for the COVID-19 virus that it purchased in August, which will go to states and territories (100 million), nursing homes (18 million), assisted living facilities (15 million), home health and hospice care agencies (10 million), historically black colleges and universities, and tribal nation colleges.

House Democrats unveiled a new version of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act – a $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief package.

Clinicians who participated in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System in 2019 have until Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. ET to review their final score and payment adjustment factor(s) for 2021 and request a targeted review if they suspect an error.

The AHA and Aligning for Health Sept. 24 hosted a webinar detailing how hospitals and health systems are working to better identify and address health, social and community needs.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness & Response released an update on the Ryuk ransomware threat to the health care and public health sector, and urged the sector to take certain actions to reduce the risk of an attack.

Weekly COVID-19 cases among college-aged youth increased 55% nationally between Aug. 2 and Sept. 5, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

AHA and other organizations representing the nation’s clinicians, hospitals, health systems and experts in health informatics and health information management urged the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to allow for at least one year of extended enforcement discretion for its information blocking rule.