News

The AHA and American College of Healthcare Executives today led a joint session at the World Hospital Congress of the International Hospital Federation in Oman on how American hospital and health system leaders respond to natural disasters, crises and workplace violence and how to build resilience.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will host a Nov. 14 call for clinical diagnostic laboratories, including hospital outreach laboratories, on reporting data for the Clinical Diagnostic Test Payment System in 2020.

In this blog, Andy Shin, chief operating officer of the AHA Center for Health Innovation, discusses an ecosystem approach to health care transformation.

A federal judge in New York today voided the Department of Health and Human Services’ 2019 final rule concerning certain statutory conscience rights in health care on lack of statutory authority and constitutional grounds.

More than 177,000 people selected a 2020 health plan through HealthCare.gov Nov. 1-2, the first two days of open enrollment, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced today.

The National Quality Forum’s Hospital Quality Star Rating Summit today released recommendations to improve the transparency, fairness and usefulness of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings.

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the first test to use next generation sequencing technology to detect HIV drug-resistance mutations in patients taking or about to start antiviral therapy.

The National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic, of which the AHA is a sponsor, yesterday concluded a two-day meeting on progress to combat the opioid crisis.

Drug shortages threaten the quality of patient care, narrow treatment options and often result in the use of potentially less effective alternative medications, hospital and health system leaders said at a briefing today on Capitol Hill.

States that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act in 2014 and 2015 saw greater reductions in discharge rates, inpatient days and hospital costs related to ambulatory care-sensitive conditions than did non-expansion states.

The Joint Commission last week issued an advisory reviewing its new hospital accreditation standards for preventing maternal hemorrhage and severe hypertension/preeclampsia effective July 1, 2020.

Fourteen hospitals and health systems today pledged to commit more than $700 million to address social determinant of health needs in their communities as part of the Healthcare Anchor Network.

The AHA’s American Society for Health Care Engineering today presented its 2019 Excellence in Health Care Facility Management Award to Owensboro (Ky.) Health Regional Hospital for its dedication to achieving ENERGY STAR distinction.

A federal judge in Oregon Saturday temporarily blocked a presidential proclamation requiring most individuals seeking to enter the United States via an immigrant visa to have approved health insurance coverage within 30 days of entry.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will host a Nov. 6 call on the final payment rules for the hospital outpatient prospective payment system and physician fee schedule in calendar year 2020.

The AHA “strongly supports efforts to reduce fraud and abuse in the Medicare program,” but the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ final rule on program integrity enhancements to the provider enrollment process includes “overly burdensome and unworkable provisions."

AHA today urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to release long-awaited guidance to help hospitals and health systems interpret Medicare’s conditions of participation, or develop alternative approaches to keep them informed and updated about compliance.

Inpatient and outpatient prospective payment system hospitals, inpatient psychiatric facilities and PPS-exempt cancer hospitals can preview their data for the January update to Hospital Compare through Dec. 3 at the QualityNet Secure Portal.

Georgia plans to ask CMS for a Section 1115 waiver to allow 408,000 low-income adults who work, train, pursue educational opportunities or volunteer for at least 80 hours per month to “earn access” to employer-sponsored health insurance or Medicaid.

This week, AHA leaders are sharing the emergency preparedness efforts of America’s hospitals and health systems at the 43rd World Hospital Congress of the International Hospital Federation in Oman.