News

The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved five bills to address the opioid crisis, which include provisions aimed at increasing participation in drug take-back programs, strengthening Drug Enforcement Administration discretion in setting opioid quotas, and reducing demand for illicit narcotics.

The AHA today submitted comments on the Food and Drug Administration’s Medical Device Safety Action Plan.

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday introduced 22 bipartisan bills to address the opioid crisis in Medicare, Medicaid and human services programs.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health yesterday held a hearing on bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Program through 2023 at $330 million a year, $30 million more than the current funding level.

The Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative reduced hospitalizations and emergency department visits and improved primary care delivery for beneficiaries, but did not reduce Medicare spending enough to cover care management fees or significantly improve quality.

The AHA today named as its senior vice president for field engagement C. Douglas Shaw, currently chief operating and development officer for the association’s Health Forum subsidiary.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today voted 22-1 to approve the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved special handling instructions to allow health care providers to use certain opioid and other intravenous drug products made by Hospira that were on hold due to low potential for a manufacturing defect but are in short supply.

In comments submitted yesterday, AHA strongly urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to withdraw a proposed rule that would exempt states with high Medicaid managed care enrollment or that propose “nominal” rate reductions from requirements to assess whether their Medicaid fee-for-service rates are sufficient to ensure beneficiary access to covered services.

Overall cancer death rates continue to decline for U.S. men, women and children in all major racial and ethnic groups, according to the latest annual report to the nation on the status of cancer.

Patients discharged from the hospital and those who care for them would like hospitals to communicate in a supportive, collaborative and purposeful way, anticipate and explain how they will address their needs, and ensure continuity of care, according to a pilot study by Project ACHIEVE.

Georgia hospitals contributed more than $49 billion to the state’s economy in 2016, providing more than 366,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to a recent report by the Georgia Hospital Association.

AHA supports the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s bipartisan reauthorization of the hospital and public health preparedness programs contained within S. 2852, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2018.

The AHA today expressed support for the VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act of 2018 (S. 2372), known as the VA MISSION Act, bipartisan legislation to consolidate the Department of Veterans Affairs' community care programs into one permanent Veterans Community Care Program.

The AHA today expressed support for the Opioid Workforce Treatment Act of 2018 (H.R. 5818/S. 2843), bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would reduce the shortage of opioid treatment providers by increasing the number of Medicare-funded residency slots in hospitals with programs focused on substance use disorder treatment.

AHA today urged the Health Resources and Services Administration to implement without further delay its final regulation on 340B drug ceiling prices and civil monetary penalties for manufacturers.

The U.S. Agency for International Development will contribute at least $8 million to combat the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar announced today in a speech to the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

An estimated 9.1% of U.S. residents, or 29.3 million people, lacked health insurance when surveyed in 2017.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today held a hearing on how to address the growing shortage of physicians, nurses and other health care professionals, especially in rural areas, as the U.S. population ages.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement today convened a national steering committee, whose members include the AHA, to create a national plan to accelerate patient safety progress across the care continuum.