��������

During his State of the Union address last night, President Biden announced a national strategy to strengthen the mental health care system.

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday alerted health care providers and the public to three COVID-19 antigen tests that are not authorized or approved for distribution or use in the United States.

The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury will revise their guidance on the arbitration process for determining payment for out-of-network services under the No Surprises Act to conform to a federal court ruling last week that struck down parts of the process.

In tonight’s State of the Union address, President Biden is expected to announce plans to establish new minimum staffing ratios for nursing homes.

Drug companies raised prices faster than inflation for about half of all drugs covered by Medicare between July 2019 and July 2020, according to an analysis released last week by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today released studies examining the effectiveness of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at preventing emergency department and urgent care visits by children aged 5-17, and reactions to the Pfizer booster in adolescents aged 12-17.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched new ads encouraging smokers to quit. Part of CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers campaign, featuring real people experiencing smoking-related diseases and disabilities, the ads promote the telephone counseling service 1-800-QUIT-NOW and a new servic that connects U.S. adults with text-messaging support in English and Spanish to quit smoking. 

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends changes to improve fairness, equity, transparency and cost-effectiveness in the U.S. organ transplant system.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will host a March 1 call for stakeholders on its recent request for information on barriers to accessing health care coverage and services through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FBI Saturday

On this episode, I talk with Marcus Whitney, co-founder and partner of Jumpstart Health Investors, focused on innovation and investment in health care. Whitney also is founder and general partner of Jumpstart Nova, a venture fund investing in Black-led health care companies.

In Part 2 of AHA’s special podcast series featuring guests from the organization’s most-downloaded podcasts, Elisa Arespacochaga, AHA’s vice president of clinical affairs and workforce, talks with Brooke Buckley, chief medical officer of Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital, and Harsh Trivedi, M.D., president and CEO of Sheppard Pratt Health System, about how a culture of value supports resilience across organizations and teams and how clinical training can combine with one’s leadership journey to guide that value.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized a revised dosing regimen for the combination monoclonal antibody therapy Evusheld when used to prevent COVID-19 in certain patients, citing data showing a higher initial dose may better prevent infection by certain omicron subvariants.

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation announced a redesign of the Global and Professional Direct Contracting Model, which launched last year and was supposed to continue through 2026.

Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, introduced the Senate companion to the Post-Disaster Mental Health Response Act (S. 3677), AHA-supported legislation that would expand the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program to federally-designated emergencies.

As Russia attempts to advance its political interests by its invasion of Ukraine through the use of its military, we have also seen stepped up cyberattacks attributed to Russia in recent days on major networks in Ukraine.

The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality named as its new director Robert “Bob” Otto Valdez, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation professor emeritus of family and community medicine and economics at the University of New Mexico.

Million Hearts 2027 is a national initiative to prevent one million heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular events over the next five years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said some people may wish to receive their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine up to eight weeks after the first, especially males aged 12 to 39.

The AHA recommended hospitals and health systems take certain immediate steps to protect against increased cyber risks to the U.S. health system stemming from the ongoing military operations in the Russia/Ukraine region.