News

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar yesterday declared public health emergencies in North and South Carolina as Hurricane Florence approaches, and waived or modified certain Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program requirements to give health care providers and suppliers greater flexibility to meet emergency health needs.

Consumers may claim a hardship exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s individual health insurance mandate on their federal income tax return for 2018 without presenting the documentary evidence or written explanation generally required for hardship exemptions, according to guidance issued today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General yesterday recommended the Food and Drug Administration take additional steps to integrate cybersecurity into its premarket review process for medical devices

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today awarded 39 organizations grants to help consumers shop for and enroll in health coverage in 2019 as navigators in states with federally-facilitated health insurance exchanges.

The Food and Drug Administration will hold a public meeting Nov. 27 to receive stakeholder input on the underlying systemic causes of drug shortages and recommendations to mitigate them.

The AHA, Association of American Medical Colleges, America’s Essential Hospitals, 340B Health and three hospital systems today asked a federal court to order the Department of Health and Human Services to make effective within 30 days a final rule requiring drug companies to disclose the ceiling price for 340B outpatient drugs.

An estimated 49 to 65 hospital inpatient suicides occur each year in the United States, far fewer than the widely cited estimate of 1,500, according to a new study reported in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety

The AHA’s Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management has elected Dee Donatelli, acting principal at Dee Donatelli Consulting LLC, as the 2019 AHRMM Board chair-elect.

A nationally-recognized leader in hospital/physician relations and clinical integration, Nicholas Wolter, M.D., former CEO of Billings Clinic in Billings, Mont., died Sept. 7.

The AHA today voiced support for a Federal Communications Commission proposal to create a $100 million pilot program to support telehealth for low-income Americans.

Hospitals participating in the first year of Medicare’s Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model reduced payments for lower extremity joint replacement episodes by an average 3.3 percent more than hospitals that did not participate in the model.

The Food and Drug Administration Friday approved a new dosage option for buprenorphine and naloxone sublingual film, applied under the tongue as a maintenance treatment for opioid dependence.

Employment at the nation's hospitals rose by 0.16% in August to a seasonally adjusted 5,189,300 people, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The AHA is opening a new chapter in advancing health in America.

The Senate is expected to vote next week on the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, a substitute amendment to the House-passed opioid package (H.R. 6).

The AHA appreciates the steps the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is taking to streamline the Quality Payment Program and reduce burden for clinicians, but “is very concerned about the collapse of payment rates for evaluation and management visit codes.”

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee today approved legislation that would prohibit Medicare and private health plans from restricting a pharmacist’s ability to inform enrollees when a drug would cost less without using their insurance.

The Food and Drug Administration today released for public comment a revised draft memorandum of understanding for states regarding interstate distribution of “inordinate amounts” of compounded drugs by licensed pharmacists or physicians.

The AHA and Center to Advance Palliative Care this week announced a strategic partnership to develop and disseminate training and other resources to help health care providers expand access to palliative care and adopt a population health approach to improve care for patients with serious illness.

The Alliance for Recovery-Centered Addiction Health Services, of which the AHA is a member, today announced an alternative payment model designed to provide patients a long-term, comprehensive and integrated pathway to addiction treatment and recovery.