News

As Congress considers reauthorizing the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, AHA yesterday urged lawmakers to fund the Hospital Preparedness Program at a significantly increased level, strengthen the Strategic National Stockpile, require the federal government collaborate with stakeholders to build an efficient public health data infrastructure and require the Department of Health and Human Services make critical updates to its emergency preparedness playbook.

AHA today urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to quickly finalize a proposed rule that would require Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and federally-facilitated Marketplace plans to streamline their prior authorization processes, but urged the agency to adequately enforce and monitor the requirements and test and vet any electronic standards before mandating their adoption.

AHA's Institute for Diversity and Health Equity on March 6 held its latest Health Equity Innovation Summit for AHA’s Region 7 (with members from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana). The event brought together C-suite hospital leaders, community members and patient advocates to explore regional challenges and co-develop potential solutions to accelerate actions to advance health equity.

The Food and Drug Administration will end 22 COVID-19-related policies when the public health emergency ends May 11 and allow 22 to continue for 180 days, including temporary policies for outsourcing facilities compounding certain drugs for hospitalized patients and non-standard personal protective equipment practices for sterile compounders not registered as outsourcing facilities, the agency announced.

In comments submitted Saturday, AHA generally supports the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ initial guidance implementing inflation rebates for certain single source drugs and biosimilar biological products covered by Medicare Part B, but recommends changes to prevent incentivizing drug shortages and burdening 340B hospitals.

The White House today released additional details related to President Biden’s budget request for fiscal year 2024. The main budget documents were released March 9 — today’s request provides more granular detail and historical information.

March 12–18 is Patient Safety Awareness Week.

Hospitals and health systems added 19,400 jobs in February, while U.S. jobs overall increased by 311,000, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total health care jobs grew by over 44,200 to a seasonally adjusted 16.7 million, including 13,700 new jobs in nursing and residential care facilities.

Quality improvement initiatives create “a living, breathing network of providers and patients working together to achieve optimal outcomes for all communities,” writes Benjamin Wise, senior program manager of communications strategy for AHA Funded Partnerships, highlighting key takeaways from a roundtable discussion at the AHA Rural Health Care Leadership Conference in February.

Qualified family members of health care workers whose lives were lost to COVID-19 may apply through April 20 at 3 p.m. CT for a Brave of Heart Scholarship.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released updated interpretive guidance for surveyors assessing whether a hospital’s Quality Assessment & Performance Improvement Program complies with Medicare requirements, emphasizing the integral role hospital leadership and governance play in advancing quality improvement throughout the hospital.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., today reintroduced the Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act.

Reps. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., today introduced legislation that would repeal a Medicare rule that requires physicians at a Critical Access Hospital to certify that inpatients are likely to be discharged or transferred to another hospital within 96 hours. AHA has urged Congress to pass legislation to permanently remove the requirement.

Hospitals and health systems are committed to empowering patients with all the information they need to live their healthiest lives.

President Biden today submitted to Congress his budget request for fiscal year 2024. The budget includes discussion of certain health care policies, such as Medicare solvency, behavioral health, prescription drugs, workforce and pandemic preparedness.

The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs will host a webinar March 17 at 12 p.m. ET to help advocates keep eligible women and children enrolled in the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program when the COVID-19 public health emergency’s continuous enrollment requirement ends March 31.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released guidance for states on new Medicaid Third-Party Liability requirements resulting from recent legislative and court actions. Specifically, states are required to legally bar liable third-party payers from refusing payment solely on the basis that an item or service did not receive prior authorization under the third-party payer’s rules.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today recommended screening all U.S. adults at least once in their lifetime for hepatitis B using three laboratory tests.

Hospitals, health systems and other stakeholders can still sign the Administration’s Health Sector Climate Pledge, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Climate Change and Health Equity announced today, noting that multiple stakeholders have asked to join the initiative since the October 2022 deadline.

In an op-ed published today in Fierce Healthcare, AHA Senior Vice President of Public Policy Analysis and Development Ashley Thompson highlighted the significant progress hospitals are making in complying with the federal price transparency requirements.