News

The AHA July 17 presented its 2023 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award to Meritus Health in Hagerstown, Md.; Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J.; and Rapid City (S.D.) Hospital (Monument Health) for their outstanding efforts to advance diversity, inclusion and health equity.  

The AHA Board of Trustees elected as its chair-elect designate Christina (Tina) M. Freese Decker, president and CEO of Michigan-based Corewell Health. Freese Decker will serve as chair-elect in 2024 and become AHA chair in 2025.

AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack July 16 opened the 2023 AHA Leadership Summit in Seattle discussing the similarities of hospitals to Seattle’s famous innovators solving a problem and improving a service, such as Amazon, Starbucks and Boeing.  

Responding to an Arnold Ventures-backed opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine attacking tax-exempt hospitals and the 340B program, AHA General Counsel and Secretary Melinda Hatton says the authors’ disclosure form speaks volumes.

The Federal Trade Commission July 14 voted 3-0 to withdraw two antitrust policy statements related to enforcement in health care markets, calling the 1996 and 2021 statements outdated. The Department of Justice withdrew the same statements in February.  

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration July 17 released a final rule requiring employers in certain high-hazard fields, including health care, with 100 or more employees to electronically submit data from their Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses and Injury and Illness Incident Report once a year beginning in January 2024.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 17 released updated guidance for state surveyors assessing ligature risk in hospitals, which pertains to environmental safeguards for patients at risk of harm to self or others.

The White House the week of July 10 released a federal plan for collaborating with the private sector and others to implement the National Cybersecurity Strategy.

The AHA July 17 joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other organizations in urging the Federal Trade Commission to extend for 60 days the comment period for recently proposed changes to the premerger notification rules, form and instructions implementing the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. 

A new video explains how an AHA suicide prevention resource developed in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can help hospitals and health systems support workforce well-being.

The CEO of Titus Regional Medical Center in rural Texas shares how strong community bonds and personal relationships work to drive community health improvement, wherever you live.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services seeks public input to inform potential rulemaking or policies to design a future episode-based payment model. The model would build on lessons learned from other bundled payment models, such as Bundled Payments for Care Improvement, BPCI Advanced, and Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement.

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.