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As some members of Congress propose to weaken Medicare’s prohibition on physician self-referral to new physician-owned hospitals and ease restrictions on their growth, new data from Dobson | DaVanzo show that POHs publicly report on fewer Medicare quality measures and perform worse on readmission penalties than full-service community hospitals

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released a report reviewing the four principal funding sources for states to finance coordinated specialty care and other team-based behavioral health services for patients experiencing first episode psychosis, the early period of symptoms, as well as innovative strategies adopted by five states. 

Jonathan Schreiber, Cedars-Sinai vice president of community engagement, shares how 2023 Foster G. McGaw Prize finalist Cedars-Sinai Medical Center works with federally qualified health centers and other community partners to advance health and health equity in Los Angeles County.

In a letter to the editor published August 1 in the Wall Street Journal, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack responds to a recent op-ed by former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Center for a Healthy America at the America First Policy Institute, which advocated for site-neutral payment policies for outpatient care. 

U.S. and Australian cybersecurity agencies July 27 warned organizations using web applications about vulnerabilities that enable malicious actors to modify, delete or access sensitive data and urged them to implement recommendations to protect their data from compromise.

In a letter August 1 to House and Senate sponsors, the AHA and 48 other national associations voiced strong support for the Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act (H.R. 4942/S. 665), bipartisan legislation that would extend for three years the Conrad State 30 program, which allows states to request J-1 visa waivers for foreign physicians to work in federally designated shortage and underserved areas.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 1 issued the final rule that would increase Medicare inpatient prospective payment system rates by a net 3.1% in fiscal year 2024, compared with FY 2023, for hospitals that are meaningful users of electronic health records and submit quality measure data.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 1 issued the long-term care hospital prospective payment system final rule for fiscal year 2024.

The Department of Labor July 31 sued a third-party administrator owned by UnitedHealth Group in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, alleging it improperly denied claims for emergency services and urinary drug screening since 2015.

“Some analyses seem to suggest that anything above a zero percent margin is inherently bad, as though the operating goal of hospitals and health systems should be to incur financial losses,” write AHA’s Bharath Krishnamurthy, director of policy and health analytics, and Benjamin Finder, director of policy research and analysis.

Over 5.6 million women in the US live in maternity care deserts. Read the latest analysis on access to obstetric care through hospitals and providers from the March of Dimes on AHA News.

UnitedHealthcare Aug. 1 published a list of procedures no longer subject to prior authorization effective either Sept. 1 or Nov. 1, 2023.

The AHA Aug. 1 joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other organizations in urging the Federal Trade Commission to extend for at least 60 days the comment period for their draft guidance revising how they review mergers and acquisitions to determine compliance with federal antitrust laws.

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” This anonymous quote — which some have attributed to Albert Einstein — sums up one lesson from the pandemic.

The National Institutes of Health’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative opened enrollment for clinical trials to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of at least four potential treatments for long COVID in adults.

In the 18 states that began unwinding the continuous coverage requirement for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollees in April, 46% of enrollees with coverage up for renewal had their coverage renewed, 32% were terminated and redeterminations for the rest are pending, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported in its first monthly data report on renewals. For more information, see the CMS infographic. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today announced the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model, a voluntary national Medicare payment model beginning next July that aims to help dementia patients remain at home and improve quality of life for them and their caregivers

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its fiscal year 2024 final rule for the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 28 issued its final rule updating hospice payments for fiscal year 2024.

At its annual conference Aug. 6-9 in San Antonio, AHA’s American Society for Health Care Engineering will present 10 health care facilities with 2023 Sustainability Champion Awards for their strong leadership in becoming more sustainable and using saved resources to support patient care.