The Senate this week will consider a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown the day before the fiscal year ends. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asks committee chairs to draft revised COVID-19 legislation as she reopens negotiations with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on COVID-19 relief.

In a Sept. 25 letter to Congress, America’s Essential Hospitals urged lawmakers to include policies that bolster the health care safety net as part of legislative efforts to help rectify the unconscionable health inequities among vulnerable populations across the country.

HHS finalized a rule overhauling the ACA to remove some nondiscrimination protections for transgender individuals and requirements for treating people with limited English proficiency. In a statement, the association said the decision puts the health and safety of vulnerable populations at risk.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced two distributions from the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, known as the Provider Relief Fund: $4.9 billion for skilled nursing facilities and $500 million for Indian Health Service providers.

A panel convened by the National Institutes of Health culminated in an evidence report that includes 26 recommendations for improving implementation of proven services to reduce disparities in preventable conditions.

The association expressed concerns about two disparity methods developed to report readmission rates among patients with social risk factors; the deadline for comments has been extended to Dec. 14.

The agency seeks stakeholder feedback on two disparity methods measuring patient outcomes based on social risk factors; comments are due Dec. 14.

The hospital-specific reports, available for download through Sept. 24, use dual eligibility as the social risk factor for stratification of readmission rates within a hospital and enable comparison of differences across hospitals.

The confidential reports, available Aug. 24, will allow hospitals to review two disparity methods that assess performance for patients with social risk factors.