News

Summertime is right around the corner and AHA’s new social media toolkit promotes COVID-19 vaccination and boosters as a means for keeping kids active and healthy when school’s out.

“As we shift toward a post-pandemic world, let’s not lose sight of all that we’ve learned about caring for patients during this difficult time, when demand for mental health services has risen to record levels,” writes Manish Sapra, M.D., executive director of behavioral health services at Northwell Health and a member of the AHA’s Committee on Behavioral Health, during Mental Health Awareness Month.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in partnership with the AHA, has released a series of four short videos to help promote hand hygiene. The videos aim to engage and educate all personnel in effective hand hygiene, foster accountability, and advance continuous quality improvement.

The Kaiser Family Foundation provides a tool to track changes in state Medicaid enrollment during redeterminations. Stay updated on the latest Medicaid enrollment data.

AHA on May 4 voiced support for the Bipartisan Solution to Cyclical Violence Act, legislation that would create a federal grant program for hospitals to initiate or expand violence prevention programs linked to trauma centers and examine their effect on re-incarceration and readmission rates.

The Oklahoma Hospital Association recently named as its new president effective June 1 Rich Rasmussen, who most recently served as president and CEO of the Montana Hospital Association. Rasmussen replaces Patti Davis, who will retire in June after four decades in the hospital field.

As more people turn to their local hospital ED for behavioral health and addiction services, an executive with M Health Fairview in Minnesota describes how the health system launched a special emergency unit to deliver behavioral health care in a quick and calming environment.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration invites community-based organizations to apply through June 8 to participate in its Behavioral Health Equity Challenge, which will award 10 organizations up to $50,000 each for their innovative strategies to help underserved racial and ethnic communities access behavioral health services.

Hospital and health system margins improved slightly in March, but continue to sit at “razor-thin, near-zero levels,” putting hospitals in a vulnerable position should a recession or a new public health emergency materialize, according to the latest report on hospital finances by Kaufman Hall.

The Food and Drug Administration on May 3 approved the first U.S. vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, Arexvy by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, for use in individuals aged 60 and older.

The Senate Finance Committee today held a hearing on removing barriers to mental health care, with a focus on improving provider directory accuracy.

After reviewing a record 38,000 comments on proposed rules limiting telehealth prescriptions for buprenorphine and other controlled substances after the COVID-19 public health emergency, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Health and Human Services “have decided to extend the current flexibilities while we work to find a way forward to give Americans that access with appropriate safeguards,” the DEA announced May 3.

ProMedica’s approach to integrating social determinants of health “is designed to offer a helping hand, not a prescribed intervention,” writes the health system’s director of community impact in Michigan.

Pregnant people with opioid use disorder are more likely to receive buprenorphine (a recommended treatment) if they are older, white and have public insurance.

AHA May 1 released a customizable video and other social media resources to help hospitals and health systems celebrate National Hospital Week.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services May 1 announced two investigations of

AHA opposes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposal to limit patient days when calculating Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospital payments for patients eligible for Medicaid benefits under a Section 1115 demonstration project, which it said could devastate access to care for lower-income populations by curtailing resources used to finance health care in historically marginalized communities.

The Government Accountability Office May 1 named six new members to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, which advises Congress on issues affecting Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The Food and Drug Administration April 28 authorized a fourth Pfizer COVID-19 bivalent vaccine dose at least one month after the third dose for certain immunocompromised children aged six months through 4.

The Food and Drug Administration last week alerted health care providers and laboratory personnel to a cybersecurity vulnerability affecting the Universal Copy Service software in certain Illumina medical devices used to sequence DNA for clinical diagnostic use or research.