What’s happening: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is granting exceptions for certain measures in Medicare quality reporting and value-based programs to hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, and post-acute providers in designated areas affected by the California Wildfires and Straight-line Winds public health emergency in Los Angeles.  

What else to know: If providers voluntarily report data where exceptions are allowed, CMS notes that the data will be used for public reporting and applying scoring methodologies under value-based programs.  

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What’s happening: The Department of Health Care Access and Information’s (HCAI) Office of Facility Loan Insurance is conducting a webinar on Feb. 20 from 10 a.m. to noon (PT) to discuss a seismic grant program for small, rural, and critical access hospitals.  

What else to know: The webinar will cover eligibility criteria, additions to the program due to Assembly Bill 869 (2024), and the application process. Registration is open.  

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What’s happening: In partnership with the Hospital Association of Southern California, CHA will host the two-day 2025 HR Conference in Long Beach, taking place Feb. 19 from noon to 5 p.m. and Feb. 20 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.  

What else to know: The conference will cover topics relevant to human resource (HR) professionals, and professional continuing education (CE) credits are available to registrants who complete certain requirements. Registration is open for CHA members.   

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What’s happening: The Institute for Medical Leadership is hosting its Chief of Staff Boot Camp 2025 — geared toward medical staff leaders, chief medical offers, hospital executives, and medical staff managers — Feb. 28 to March 2 in Los Angeles. Tuition begins at $2,195, and registration is open. 

What else to know: The Chief of Staff Boot Camp aims to provide new chiefs of staff the information they need to succeed in their complex role by sharing the knowledge and tools necessary to work collaboratively with peers, hospital administration, and staff members. 

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The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has developed checklists and information sheets to assist hospitals and other licensed providers in understanding and preparing for relicensing surveys, as well as making changes to their licenses, bed capacities, or services. To ensure California hospitals have convenient access, CHA is making these resources available on its website.

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What’s happening: At the Jan. 28 Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) board meeting, the board voted 6-0 to create a statewide hospital sector and focused on options for imposing stricter spending targets on a limited set of “high-cost” hospitals. 

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What’s happening: A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has delayed the Jan. 27 court hearing on two motions by Anthem Blue Cross — to dismiss CHA’s lawsuit and strike requested remedies — to Feb. 14. In the lawsuit, CHA claims Anthem failed to provide timely post-hospital care for its members.  

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What’s happening: CHA submitted comments in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed policy and technical changes to Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D programs for contract year 2026.   

What else to know: Finalization of the proposed rule is expected in April — in time for MA plans to bid to CMS and offer MA products for plan year 2026. The rule, once finalized, will take effect Jan. 1, 2026.  

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A recent presidential executive order related to birthright citizenship (which has been temporarily blocked by a federal court) and a directive to remove a layer of protection for certain locations (including schools, churches, and hospitals) from immigration enforcement have raised many questions about the appropriate response and requirements for hospitals. 

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What’s happening: CHA’s 40^th Rural Health Care Symposium, taking place March 10-11 in Sacramento, will provide opportunities to connect with colleagues, exchange ideas, and tackle the critical challenges facing rural health care. 

What else to know: Registration is open to CHA member hospitals.   

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