News

The Department of Health and Human Services announced seven new ventilator production contracts to boost national availability. Five of the contracts are rated under the Defense Production Act, meaning they must be accepted and prioritized by the contractors.

Medicare will increase payment for certain "high-throughput" COVID-19 diagnostic tests to $100 to expand testing capacity and speed results during the public health emergency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an estimated 9,282 confirmed COVID-19 cases in U.S. health care workers between Feb. 12 and April 9, representing 19% of U.S. cases for which occupational status was available.

AHA joined hospital and health system leaders at a White House event to announce the Dynamic Ventilator Reserve, a public-private online initiative to track and help distribute available ventilators and associated supplies to high-need areas of the country.

The AHA has partnered with Microsoft, Kaiser Permanente, consulting firm Kearney, Merit Solutions and UPS to launch Protecting People Everywhere, an app-powered initiative that matches individuals and organizations donating personal protective equipment with local hospitals based on need.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its infection prevention and control recommendations for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in health care settings.

The departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury April 11 issued joint guidance implementing legislative provisions specific to COVID-19 diagnostic testing and services.

The Food and Drug Administration Monday authorized emergency use of an infusion pump system to deliver nebulized medications to patients with or suspected of having COVID-19.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued additional guidance on transferring patients between long-term care facilities, which include skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes, in order to mitigate community spread of COVID-19.

Cyber criminals are mimicking popular cloud-based email services to compromise business accounts and exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to perpetrate fraud in telework environments, the FBI reports.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services granted a Section 1135 Medicaid waiver for the COVID-19 emergency to Utah, bringing the national total to 50.

A new public-private effort was announced to aid in distributing ventilators to critical areas in the fight against COVID-19.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services April 10 issued a proposed rule to update hospice payment rates for fiscal year 2021. CMS proposes a 2.6% net increase to payments of $580 million, compared to FY 2020.

The AHA, joined by other organizations, urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decision that gives private individuals “broad license” to bring meritless False Claims Act lawsuits against hospitals and other health care providers. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services April 10 issued a proposed rule for the inpatient psychiatric facility prospective payment system for fiscal year 2021. CMS proposes to increase IPF payments by a net 2.4%, equivalent to $100 million, in FY 2021.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services April 10 issued a proposed rule updating fiscal year 2021 payments for the skilled nursing facilities prospective payment system.

The National Institutes of Health launched a study to determine how many adults in the U.S. without a confirmed COVID-19 history have antibodies to the virus.

The American Medical Association released two Current Procedural Terminology codes (86328 and 86769) for reporting antibody testing for the novel coronavirus, and revised its CPT code for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid tests (86318).

To facilitate continuous patient care during quickly changing scenarios during the pandemic, the Drug Enforcement Administration has issued three exceptions to regulations for DEA-registered hospitals and clinics effective from April 10 until the public health emergency ends.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced updates to the process it launched last month for obtaining data on hospital bed capacity and utilization and COVID-19 testing results from in-house laboratories.