News

The Federal Communications Commission Dec. 12 rejected an application by Starlink for nearly $900 million in Rural Digital Opportunity Funds to bring broadband services to rural locations, including health care facilities, concluding the application failed to demonstrate the company could deliver the promised service.

Seventy-three percent of U.S. commercial health insurance markets were highly concentrated in 2022, according to the latest annual report on health insurance competition by the American Medical Association.

The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Dec. 13 released a final rule updating certification requirements for health information technology developers under its Health IT Certification Program.

U.S. health care spending increased 4.1% in 2022, far slower than gross domestic product due to slower spending for hospital and clinical services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported Dec. 13 in Health Affairs.

Community health workers have become an essential component of RUSH University Medical Center’s efforts to minimize inequities in health and life expectancy. CHWs provide much-needed resources across the RUSH campus and several Chicago neighborhoods, while also being a driving force for partnerships and programming in a variety of care and community settings.

In new guidance for software manufacturers, cybersecurity agencies in the U.S. and United Kingdom urge every software manufacturer to implement memory safe programming languages (MSLs) and publish a roadmap that details how they will eliminate MSL vulnerabilities in their products.

Five Qualified Health Information Networks Dec. 12 began exchanging electronic health information nationwide under the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, a set of common rules for secure exchange of treatment and other health information required by the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced.

The House Dec. 12 voted 386-37 to pass AHA-supported legislation (H.R. 4531) that would reauthorize key SUPPORT Act programs for patients with substance use disorder and permanently extend required Medicaid coverage for medication-assisted treatments.

The House Dec. 11 voted 320-71 to pass legislation (H.R. 5378) that would delay a Jan. 19 payment reduction to Medicaid disproportionate share hospitals for two years, but permanently reduce Medicare payments for drug administration services in off-campus hospital outpatient departments.

In an unconvincing effort to claim hospitals are not living up to their mission, the author of a recent op-ed in the New York Times ignores the unparalleled benefits hospitals of all types provide to their communities, writes AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should require Medicare Advantage plans to submit additional data and the agency should publicly release the MA data it already collects, a bipartisan group of senators told the agency last week.

The AHA today urged members of the House of Representatives to oppose H.R. 5378, legislation scheduled to be voted on tonight, unless site-neutral provisions are removed from the bill.

This year marked the AHA’s 125th year as an advocate in the health care field for hospitals and health systems and their patients, health care professionals and communities.

The creators of Grady Health System’s Teen Experience and Leadership Program describe how providing hands-on internships for local teens is helping to build its workforce pipeline for decades to come.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Dec. 8 discussed draft payment update recommendations for 2025, which the commission will vote on in January.

Health care workers encounter adverse events and stressful situations that may require time and space to process.

Even prior to the pandemic, the biggest questions facing health care providers were: Where is our field headed? And, how can we continue to innovate and transform to deliver the best possible patient care in a fast-changing future?

The Home Test to Treat program now offers free testing, telehealth and treatment for both COVID-19 and flu to eligible adults nationwide, the National Institutes of Health announced.

Nearly 7.3 million people selected a 2024 health plan through the federally facilitated and state-based Health Insurance Marketplaces Nov. 1 through Dec. 2, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Dec. 6.

The Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice, and Federal Trade Commission Dec. 7 announced several new actions to promote competition in health care and support lower prescription drug costs.