About Clinical Care
California’s hospitals are dedicated to providing high-quality, safe, and person-centered health care. This wouldn’t be possible without the clinical services hospitals provide, which include emergency care, surgery, X-ray/radiology, laboratory services, and behavioral health care. The care that hospitals provide is shaped by their communities’ needs.
Resources
CHA has compiled the following federal, state, and local resources to assist hospitals in navigating the current IV solution shortage:
State
Federal
Clinical Guidance
Situational Updates
CMS Memos Clarify Policies for Providers, State Survey Agencies
What’s happening: In four new memos, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) clarifies survey policies for critical access hospitals (CAHs), long-term care facilities (LTC), and laboratories.
What else you need to know: New and revised guidance addresses time-share and leased space arrangements in CAHs, immediate jeopardy in laboratories, and LTC policies.
AHA Survey on 340B Closes Dec. 16
What’s happening: The American Hospital Association (AHA) is asking 340B Drug Pricing Program members to complete a brief survey by Dec. 16 to help it understand how alternative 340B rebate models would impact 340B member hospitals.
What else to know: Completing this 10-question survey will help AHA understand the financial, operational, and patient impacts that a rebate model — such as the one Johnson & Johnson sought to implement this year — would have on your hospital or health system.
DEA, HHS Extend Telehealth Prescribing Flexibilities
What’s happening: The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) extended existing waiver flexibilities for prescribing controlled substances via telemedicine through Dec. 31, 2025.
What else to know: This is the third extension.
Teen Overcomes Leukemia Thanks to Innovative CAR T Cell Therapy
Diego was initially unresponsive to cancer treatments until CAR T cell therapy and stem cell donations from his sister saved his life. Now, Diego is cancer-free and back to playing the trumpet.
Baxter Announces Expiration Dating Extensions for Certain Products Related to IV Solutions Disruption
As part of its efforts to mitigate the disruption to the supply of IV solutions after Hurricane Helene temporarily closed its North Cove, N.C., manufacturing plant, Baxter today said that it is now authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to extend the use date of some products to provide a 24-month expiration from the manufacture date without relabeling the products. In a letter to customers today, Baxter said the extended expiration date is based on Baxter’s submission to the FDA including container closure integrity data, container functional performance data, and an analysis of product weight loss profiles for those certain product codes.
CHA Releases Resource Web Page for Nationwide IV Fluid Shortage
What’s happening: As hospitals and other health care providers nationally grapple with the shortage of IV fluids following the temporary closure of Baxter International’s manufacturing plant in Marion, N.C., CHA has compiled federal, state, and local resources to assist hospitals.
What else to know: Hurricane Helene hit the southeast in early October, causing widespread damage, including the temporary closure of Baxter’s plant — which, pre-Hurricane, manufactured 60% of the nation’s supply of IV solutions, producing 1.5 million bags per day.
HQI Quality Quarterly Spotlights Patient Safety Strategies
What’s happening: The latest edition of Quality Quarterly explores the prevalence of behavioral health conditions among California hospital encounters, the dangers of menopause misdiagnosis, new patient safety measures outlined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the need for effective reporting of workplace violence incidents by hospital staff.
What else to know: More than half of California hospitals now use HQI’s Hospital Quality Improvement Platform (HQIP), which provides comparative analytics to help hospitals identify opportunities for improvement. Learn about HQIP’s new features and updates in this latest edition.
CHLA’s Aerodigestive Program Helps Baby with Chronic Lung Disease
Thanks to the impressive coordination of Children Hospital Los Angeles’s Aerodigestive Program, Sam breathes easier and can finally say “Mama.”
United Through Crisis
Crisis has a way of reminding us of our commonalities.
Take, for instance, Hurricane Helene. Though California is far from the storm’s devastation, its effects have rippled all the way to our coast due to the temporary closure of Baxter International’s North Carolina plant, which supplies 60% of the nation’s IV fluids. Hospitals across the country are working to ensure continued patient care despite a shortage of supplies critical to emergency care, trauma, oncology, surgery, and other lifesaving services.