The newsroom includes access to CHA News, which provides timely information to members every Thursday and is at the core of CHA benefits. In addition, it is also home to resources such as toolkits and talking points designed to help member hospitals and health systems communicate with internal and external audiences on a range of current health care-related issues. Links to CHA media statements and press releases can also be found here.
Newsroom
HQI Report Identifies COVID’s Continued Impact on Patient Safety
What’s happening: The Hospital Quality Institute (HQI) has released a new analysis identifying five patient safety areas that continue to recover after being derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
What else to know: HQI’s analysis found that workforce challenges like turnover and burnout contributed greatly to a rise in these incidents. Prior to the pandemic, there had been steady improvement.
House Leaders Form Bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence
What’s happening: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have formed a new bipartisan task force focused on artificial intelligence.
What else to know: Several of the task force members are actively involved in health care policy.
Deadline Approaching for Comment on Growth Target Proposal
As early as next month, California’s Office of Health Care Affordability could set a statewide spending target (the current staff proposal is at 3%) for the state’s entire health care sector. Staff have proposed setting this target for the next five years, even though state law only requires that the initial, non-enforceable target for 2025 be set at this time.
CMS Releases Data on No Surprises Act Payment Disputes
What’s happening: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released publicly available independent dispute resolution (IDR) reports for the first two quarters of reporting year 2023.
What else to know: The report includes certain data submitted by disputing parties and certified IDR entities to the No Surprises Act (NSA) federal IDR portal.
CMS Finalizes Medicaid DSH Third-Party Payment Calculation
What’s happening: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized changes to how states calculate the hospital-specific cap for Medicaid disproportionate share hospitals (DSH).
What else to know: The rule is effective April 23.
CHA Provides Updated Federal Quality Measures Matrix
What’s happening: CHA has updated its federal quality measures matrix to reflect the 2024 federal fiscal year and calendar year Medicare prospective payment system final rules.
What else to know: The matrix includes quality measures required for public reporting and performance-based programs for hospitals and post-acute care providers.
American Hospital Association Launches DEI Benchmark Survey
What’s happening: The AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity is asking hospitals and health systems to participate in a biennial survey that provides a snapshot of successes and challenges in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
What else to know: Hospitals should have received a link to the survey on Jan. 31 from this AHA email address: surveysupport@aha.org. The survey will be open until March 29.
CHA Will Host Vitality Payer Scorecard Webinar
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
What’s happening: CHA is hosting a complimentary, members-only webinar on Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. (PT) to highlight the American Hospital Association Vitality Payer Scorecard, which was recently endorsed by the CHA board.
What else to know: The scorecard captures necessary and normalized data points without sharing protected health information. The automated process is based on de-identified claims and remittance files and eliminates the need for CHA surveys on this issue.
CHA Fact Sheets Show New Behavioral Health Facilities Being Built
What’s happening: To help CHA members learn about new behavioral health facilities being constructed in communities around the state, CHA has created an online document that displays the funds awarded to build various types of facilities by county.
What else to know: Close to $2 billion in state funds have been distributed throughout California during the past two years to build new behavioral health treatment locations that will serve Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
CHA Continues to Urge Congress to Reject Harmful Site-Neutral Payment Cuts
What’s happening: Congress has until March 8 to negotiate a potential health care package that could include Medicare site-neutral payment cuts, which are also being considered in several other bills.
What else to know: CHA opposes the cuts and continues to inform the California congressional delegation of the proposals’ harmful impacts.
