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A new AHIP report makes baseless claims that hospitals drive up specialty drug costs when in fact insurance companies drive up profits by steering patients to their own specialty pharmacies, write AHA’s Mark Howell, director of policy and patient safety, and Bharath Krishnamurthy, director of health analytics and policy.

FBI Director Christopher Wray detailed how the U.S. health care system has become a valuable target for cyberattacks from nation-states and independent cybercriminals, and how hospitals can team up with the FBI to defend against and, ideally, prevent such attacks.

Mary Beth Kingston, chief nursing officer for Advocate Health and an AHA trustee, moderated a discussion with Reps. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., and Larry Bucshon, M.D., R-Ind., about their co-sponsorship of the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees Act, which would make assaulting a health care worker a federal crime, similar to federal protections for airline workers.  

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., spoke to attendees about the role of Congress as the health care field moves beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when the entire country “learned just how essential essential workers are.”

Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., told attendees he supports making permanent some flexibilities initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic that have improved the nation’s health care system.

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., stressed that patients expect hospitals to put them first, and challenged the field to have “tough conversations” about how to ensure that continues to happen. 

Sen. Roger Marshall, M.D., R-Kan., opened the federal forum closing plenary by running down a list of concerns facing hospitals in his home state, and the value of the rural emergency hospital model to support remote communities. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a proposed rule that would extend Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage to qualified individuals in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in states that cover legally residing immigrant children and pregnant women.

The AHA April 24 presented its 2023 Award of Honor to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi for her efforts to advance health care throughout her career.

Read the recap of the first two days of the 2023 meeting from Washington, DC.

In response to questions from AHA and others and informed by testing results, the Food and Drug Administration April 21 announced that health care providers without alternative options may continue to use a certain version of the O&M Halyard FLUIDSHIELD Surgical N95 Respirator Mask for fluid barrier protection if they wear a face shield over the respirator. 

The array of global threats and challenges are myriad, retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis told hospital and health system leaders, noting that future pandemics, coupled with climate change, must be counted as serious concerns. 

The Veterans Affairs health care system shares many challenges with its non-federal counterparts, and workforce recruitment and access to care are at the top of that list, VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, M.D., told AHA annual meeting attendees during a conversation with AHA Chair-elect Joanne Conroy, M.D., president and CEO of Dartmouth Health. 

Addressing the AHA annual meeting, Ashish Jha, M.D., White House COVID-19 response coordinator, whose term will end May 11 with the COVID-19 public health emergency, reflected on his time in the Administration.

Physician-owned hospitals are “not good for patients, communities, the integrity of the Medicare program, or providers who are actually in the business of caring for all patients, 24/7, regardless of their ability to pay or their medical condition,” the AHA and Federation of American Hospitals wrote today in a blog post.  

At its Annual Membership Meeting April 24 in Washington, D.C., AHA presented two federal hospital leaders with 2022 awards recognizing their outstanding service to the health care field.

Research presented by acclaimed health care finances expert Lisa Goldstein, senior vice president for Kaufman Hall, show that times are tough but hospital leaders indicate there are silver linings from the COVID-19 pandemic that will pay dividends moving forward.  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is rethinking its payment policy, rules and overall structure as it works to present a better reimbursement landscape for health care providers, Jonathan Blum, CMS principal deputy administrator and chief operating officer, said during a fireside chat with Ashley Thompson, AHA’s senior vice president of public policy. 

The health care workforce, 340B Drug Pricing Program and end of the COVID-19 public health emergency are at the forefront of AHA’s discussions with lawmakers, said Stacey Hughes, AHA's executive vice president of government relations and public policy, during the annual meeting opening plenary.

Jim Skogsbergh, co-CEO of Advocate Health, received AHA’s highest honor, the 2023 Distinguished Service Award, during a ceremony at the annual meeting in Washington, D.C.