• Concerning Spike in Barrett's Esophagus, Esophageal Cancer in Middle-Age Adults (MedPage Today)

• How Public Health Failed America (The Atlantic)

• 'Robotic surgery improves patient recovery time (EurekaAlert!)

• MedStar Washington Hospital Center is 1st in (D.C.) region to perform robotic heart surgery (WTOP)

• Bane of My Existence:' The Burden of Medicare Advantage Denials (Medcape)

• Report:Some Medicare Advantage Organization Denials of Prior Authorization Requests Raise Concerns About Beneficiary Access to Medically Necessary Care

• Immunotherapy after bladder cancer surgery shows excellent cancer-free survival rates (MedicalXpress)

• Most Men With Low-Risk Prostate Tumors Now Forgoing Treatment (Medscape)

• Why at-home COVID-19 tests may limit the way the U.S. tracks new cases (Market Watch/MSN)

• South Carolina's certificate-of-need reform legislation dies (Becker’s)

• South Carolina hospitals pushing for reform on certificate of need process (WBTW)

• Up to 14M enrollees could lose Medicaid coverage as states restart eligibility checks (Fierce Health)

• U.S. Supreme Court to weigh private lawsuits over federal nursing home rules (Reuters)

• Medicare Surprise: Drug Plan Prices Touted During Open Enrollment Can Rise Within a Month (KHN)

• States pay close attention as Massachusetts blocks hospital expansions to control health care costs (MSN/Kaiser)

• Negotiating Lower Hospital Prices as a Self-Insured Employer (Harvard Business review)

• Downsized City Sees Its Health Care Downsized as Hospital Awaits Demolition (KHN)

• Transitional care practice helps reduce healthcare costs (NewsMedical)

• Association Between Hospital Private Equity Acquisition and Outcomes of Acute Medical Conditions Among Medicare Beneficiaries (Jama Network)

• FAH Requests Hospital Merger Guideline Consistency from DOJ, FTC (RevCycle)

• Three patient deaths, and many others in misery, prompts $250,000 in fines at 5 Mass. nursing homes (Boston Globe)

• Hospitals say price transparency remains too confusing and pricey to implement (Fierce Health)

• Springfield Shriners hospital ending inpatient care in national shift to outpatient model (MassLive)

• 7 hospitals cutting inpatient care (Beckers)

• Hospitals blast ‘unacceptable’ inpatient payment bump (HealthCareDive)

• California Handed Its Medicaid Drug Program to One Company. Then Came a Corporate Takeover (KHN)

• New study raises questions about when telehealth is best used as a substitute for in-person mental health care and when telehealth is best used to complement in-person care (Helalth Leaders)

• When The Public Health Emergency Ends: What Will It Mean For Dually Eligible Individuals? (Health Affairs)

• Nearly 80% of patients with infection following cardiac implant not treated appropriately: study (MedTecDive)

• The misalignment of telehealth policy and funding versus who actually uses it is epic (The Hill)

• Coronavirus Healthcare Spending Dwindles, Threatening Health Equity (RevCycle)

• Health and Health Care for Women of Reproductive Age -How the United States Compares with Other High-Income Countries (Commonwealth Fund)

• Researchers found significant variation in hospital prices paid by commercial health plans, with some hospital regions seeing price increases while others in the same state saw decreases (RevCycle)

• CMS Office of the Actuary Releases 2021-2030 Projections of National Health Expenditures (CMS)

• Undiagnosed heart disease may be common in people with heart attacks not caused by clots (Herald Review)

• Doctor fired from ER warns about effect of for-profit firms in U.S. Health care (Health Leaders)

• Hospitals are supposed to direct 340B revenue and savings toward healthcare services for low-income and uninsured patients, but Massachusetts health systems saw low levels of charity care in 2020 (RevCycle)

• Appeals court nixes Hackensack-Englewood hospital merger in New Jersey (Health Care Dive)

• Impact of coronavirus pandemic accelerated national health spending growth to 9.7% in 2020 (HealthLeaders)

• Rural Hospital Administrators’ Beliefs About Safety, Financial Viability, and Community Need for Offering Obstetric Care (JAMA Open Network)

• Tobacco Surcharge May Limit Affordable Care Act Enrollment (HealthPayer)

• Seeking to Shift Costs to Medicare, More Employers Move Retirees to Advantage Plans (KHN)

• Health policy experts agree that California's failure to adopt single-payer dampens momentum across the country (Health Leaders/KHN)

• DOJ Files Lawsuit to Block UnitedHealth, Change Healthcare Merger (RevCycle)

In the News

Blogs We Follow

Popular Site Destinations

Job Bank

No current postings at AHPA

Federal Agency Blogs

COVID-19 Information

Starting Points:

• U. S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

• Cases, Data & Surveillance
• Covide Science Updates (Weekly)

• State Health Departments
• NACCHO Directory Local Health Departments
• CMS Nursing Home Covid Data (1st report 5/24/2020)

• Related GAO Report: Infection Control Deficiencies Were Widespread and Persistent in Nursing Homes Prior to COVID-19 Pandemic

Guides & Resources for Reopening Workspaces:

• Kaiser Permanente Releases COVID-19 Playbook: Planning For The Next Normal At Work
• CDC Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers Responding to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

• CDC Workplace Decision Tree
• Summary of CDC guidelines on reopening businesses after the pandemic (Tech Republic)

Additional Resources:

• Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform (CHQPR) Report Summary on Pandemic and Rural Hospital Closure Risk
• Four COVID Vaccines Compared (Medscape)
• CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook for Jurisdiction Operations
• The Costs of Coronavirus (JAMA Network)
• Largest COVID-19 contact tracing study to date finds children key to spread, evidence of superspreaders (Princeton)
• Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (National Acadamies 2020)
• National Insitutes of Health
• John Hopkins ABX Guide: Coronavirus COVID-19
• The Covid Tracking Project:
• Oxford Martin School’s Our World Data -Covid 19
• University Of Minnesotta CIDRAP Covid Resources
• JAMA Sponsored Live Stream Q & A with CDC
• Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 News and Reports
• NEJM : A collection of articles and other resources on the Coronavirus (Covid-19)
• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME): COVID-19 Resources
• Penn Center for Research on Coronavirus and Other Emerging Pathogens Webinars (You Tube Channel)

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