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AHA today urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to make permanent COVID-19 waivers that removed regulatory barriers to better patient care, and temporarily extend certain other waivers beyond the public health emergency to help hospitals transition back to normal care delivery.

The COVID-19 waivers “were essential to hospitals during the pandemic and allowed them to adapt swiftly to new patient-care needs,” AHA wrote. “In the process, we discovered ways to be more patient-centered, to take greater advantage of technology and to reduce the burden on staff and patients. In short, much of this innovation led to improvements in care.”