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The recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act delays by one year, until Jan. 1, 2024, payment reductions of up to 15% under the Medicare Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services noted in an update this week.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission today voted to recommend that Congress update Medicare payment rates for hospital inpatient and outpatient services by the current law amount plus 1% for 2024, and distribute an additional $2 billion to safety-net hospitals by transitioning to a safety-net index policy.

Hospitals and health systems have a special role to play in helping to realize Dr. King’s dream of a truly just society.

The National Advisory Committee for the Hospital Incident Command System encourages hospitals and health systems to complete by Feb. 28 a survey on the system’s emergency management performance during the past few years to identify potential improvements.

The Health Resources and Services Administration on Feb. 22 will host its first training webinar for National Practitioner Data Bank administrators, who manage their organization’s NPDB account.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency this week simplified procedures for its Public Assistance Program, which provides disaster response grants to non-profit health care organizations and others.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released a memo and timeline outlining how it will approach implementing the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, which will negotiate prices with drug makers for certain high-cost, sole-source drugs and apply them beginning in 2026.

AHA filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to affirm a federal jury’s unanimous 2022 verdict in favor of Sutter Health and certain affiliates in a lawsuit that alleged the California-based integrated health care network violated federal antitrust law in their arrangements with health plans. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention joined the government of Uganda and global public health community in marking the end of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, 42 days after the last reported case.

Nearly 16 million people selected a 2023 health plan through the federally facilitated or state-based marketplaces Nov. 1 through Jan. 7, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported. 

The Department of Health and Human Services renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration for another 90 days.

States that expanded Medicaid coverage to low-income adults in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act reduced postpartum hospitalizations for low-income people, according to a study reported yesterday in Health Affairs, which compared 2010-2017 data from four states that expanded Medicaid and four that did not. 

As drug prices continue to rise, the 340B drug pricing program continues to help hospitals expand access to comprehensive health services, including lifesaving prescription drugs for those in need who may not be able to afford them, writes AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack in the Wall Street Journal.    

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today allocated 200 new Medicare-funded residency slots to 100 teaching hospitals in health professional shortage areas with the greatest need, as described in the inpatient prospective payment system final rule for fiscal year 2022.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today decided to allow the Department of Health and Human Services to propose an appropriate remedy for its past underpayments to hospitals participating in the 340B drug pricing program

John Haupert is president and CEO of Grady Health System, a public, academic health system serving metro Atlanta and Georgia.

Joseph Perras, M.D., president and CEO of Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center, Dartmouth Health (Vermont), will serve as 2023 chair of the AHA Rural Health Services Committee. Sean Fadale, president and CEO of Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home (New York), is chair-elect. Philip Pandolph, president and CEO, Meadville Medical Center (Pennsylvania), has transitioned to past-chair. Christina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health (Michigan), will serve as liaison to the AHA Board of Trustees. 

The Department of Labor has extended to Jan. 20 the deadline for nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and tribal organizations to apply for up to $6 million each to train current and former nurses to become nursing educators, and frontline health care workers to advance to nursing careers.

Evusheld may not prevent COVID-19 in immunocompromised individuals exposed to the XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant, because the treatment has failed to neutralize similar subvariants, the Food and Drug Administration announced Friday. While it awaits additional data to verify this, FDA recommends health care providers inform patients about this risk, and advise them to test for COVID-19 and seek medical attention if they develop symptoms.

The Health Resources and Services Administration today awarded nearly $60 million over five years to help 24 health care and educational organizations integrate mental health training into training for primary care clinicians, with a focus on preparing them to treat mental health needs in children and adolescents.