News

AHA’s Better Health for Mothers and Babies initiative April 29 released a resource highlighting strategies hospitals are implementing to raise awareness and detect heart health needs early, during and after pregnancy.

“If you are asking yourself how a cyberattack on a single company could cause such massive damage, you are asking the right question,” an AHA advertorial in April 30's Washington Post, states. “The answer, however, is stunningly simple. Over the past several years, Change Healthcare’s corporate owner, UnitedHealth Group, has acquired so many companies and spread its tentacles so far throughout the healthcare system that it has become ‘too big to fail.’”

AHA submitted a statement to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health for a hearing April 30 on proposed legislation to address Medicaid access and program integrity.

Recruiting a young and engaged workforce is particularly challenging for rural care providers. Susan Wathen, vice president of human resources at Hannibal Regional Healthcare System, discusses the rural system’s unique approaches to finding and retaining future health care employees.

Pediatric sepsis is "an aggressive and unrelenting adversary that knows neither geographic nor demographic bounds," writes Chris DeRienzo, M.D., AHA’s senior vice president and chief physician executive, in a blog about his experiences treating the condition as a physician and the importance of prevention.

Adults age 65 and older are encouraged to receive an updated dosage of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced April 25.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it is a time to raise awareness of and reduce the stigma surrounding behavioral health issues. It’s also a time to recognize how mental illness and addiction can affect all of us — patients, providers, families and our society at large.

Kittitas Valley Healthcare in rural Washington state last year implemented an innovative new model for retaining essential obstetric and other women’s health services in its community.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently released a guide to help health systems and other stakeholders assess and advance equity in health care solutions that involve digital technologies.

NYC Health + Hospitals launched the Helping Healers Heal peer support program to help care teams stay physically and mentally healthy.

The Department of Health and Human Services and National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, a public-private partnership whose members include the AHA, April 23 released a national strategy and federal plan to prevent suicide over the next 10 years. The updated strategy includes a new pillar prioritizing equity for populations disproportionately impacted by suicide.

The Federal Trade Commission April 23 voted 3-2 to issue a final rule that would ban as an unfair method of competition contractual terms that prohibit workers from pursuing certain employment after their contract with an employer ends.

A new Boardroom Brief from AHA Trustee Services and the American Society for Health Care Risk Management offers guidance and resources to help boards drive value through enterprise risk management.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration are investigating adverse effects in 22 people in 11 states who received botulinum toxin injections that were counterfeit or administered in non-healthcare settings or by unlicensed or untrained individuals.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services April 22 finalized rules intended to improve access in both the Medicaid fee-for-service and managed care programs.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services April 22 finalized minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes that participate in Medicare and Medicaid.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology April 22 released

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights April 19 launched a webpage answering HIPAA-related FAQs about the Change Healthcare cyberattack.

Commenting last week on a discussion draft of the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act, which would extend the hospital-at-home program through 2027, AHA thanked the sponsors for their ongoing work to extend this innovative program and voiced support for its continuance.

The Department of Health & Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights April 22 released a final rule prohibiting entities regulated by the HIPAA Privacy Rule from using or disclosing protected health information to investigate or prosecute patients, providers or others involved in providing legal reproductive health services.