Policy and Legislation

Hospitalizations, drug and device shortages, and employee illness and burnout may continue through 2022, AHA says.

A critical staffing shortage has contributed to the loss of about 700 medical/surgical and ICU hospital beds since the beginning of 2021.

This applies in the 24 states where the vaccine mandate was reinstated by last week's Supreme Court's decision.

<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:black">This week's top stories include a class action complaint filed following a data breach that affected nearly 320,000 people, and New York's booster requirement that aims to protect the health of a stretched-thin workforce.</span></span></span></p>

This adds to the more than 800 federal emergency personnel dispatched to 24 states, tribes and territories since Thanksgiving.

In the absence of those declarations, the hospital group expects the challenges of the pandemic to be "exponentially more difficult" to overcome.

This continues to outpace previous years' enrollment, including a 21% increase in plan selections through December 15, 2021.

The goal is to incentivize insurers to cover these costs up-front and ensure patients don't need an order from their providers.

There are no test-out options and no exemptions, apart from medical exemptions, a move geared to protecting the health of a stretched-thin workforce.

CMS expects the changes to improve beneficiaries' experiences with MA and Part D, calling it a "higher standard" of benefits and health equity.