A.J. Wilhelmi Joins HNI Panel: What's Next for Medicaid?
Changes are coming to Medicaid. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is expected to slash hundreds of billions of dollars from the program and force millions of people to lose Medicaid coverage due to work requirements, provider payment restrictions, and more.

What does it all mean for Illinois’ Medicaid program? IHA President and CEO A.J. Wilhelmi, will join a panel of Illinois experts on Sept. 15 to discuss the potential impact. Panelists include:

• Elizabeth Whitehorn, Director, Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services
• Ashley Snavely, CEO, Illinois Health Care Association
• Jill Hayden, CEO, Illinois Association of Medicaid Health Plans
• Stephanie Altman, Of Counsel and former Director of Healthcare Justice and Senior Director of Policy, Shriver Center on Poverty Law

Click here to register to attend the Sept. 15 panel discussion in Chicago. The event will start with a networking at 8:30 a.m. CT. The panel discussion will begin at 9 a.m. CT.

REMINDER: Medicaid IMPACT Revalidations Town Hall Aug. 21
The Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) is currently conducting IMPACT Medicaid provider revalidations. To assist providers with navigating the IMPACT enrollment System and answer questions, HFS is hosting monthly, virtual town hall meetings. IHA recommends hospitals participate in these town hall meetings if you have an upcoming revalidation. The next town hall is Aug. 21 from 10-10:45 a.m. CT. Click here to register or view the town hall meeting schedule.
 
IHA urges all providers to check their revalidation cycle due date and submit necessary information to complete their revalidation. To view the revalidation due dates of servicing providers affiliated with your hospitals, click here for step-by-step instructions. If you do not complete your revalidation, you will be disenrolled from IMPACT and providers can no longer bill for services provided to Illinois Medicaid enrollees, including those enrolled in managed care organizations.
 
Staff contact: Elizabeth Nelson

RECALL: Draeger Filters, DermaRite Products Can Cause Serious Injury, Death
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday that it is aware that Draeger has issued an updated Urgent Medical Device Recall Notification to recall the SafeStar and TwinStar filters due to the risk of misleading carbon dioxide readings, which could result in healthcare providers administering unnecessary or harmful treatments based on incorrect waveform interpretations. To date, serious injuries have been reported due to the slow increase of CO2 curve when using the sampling port of the filter; however, there have been no reports of death related to this issue.

The FDA has also released a notice on a voluntary DermaRite recall of its DermaKleen, Dermasarra, Kleenfoam and Perigiene products due to a microbial contamination that can result in serious and life-threatening infections. To date, DermaRite has not received any reports of adverse events related to this recall.

Fed. Partners Disrupt Operations of Cybercriminals That Targeted Hospitals
The Justice Department this week announced coordinated actions were taken by U.S. and international partners to disrupt the BlackSuit (Royal) ransomware group, which has targeted critical infrastructure, including hospitals and health systems. Law enforcement successfully seized servers, domains, and digital assets used by the BlackSuit ransomware group to deploy ransomware, extort victims, and launder proceeds of these activities.

Since 2022, the Royal and BlackSuit ransomware groups have compromised over 450 known victims in the U.S., including entities in the healthcare, education, public safety, energy and government sectors. Combined, the groups have received more than $370 million in ransom payments, based on present-day valuations of cryptocurrency. The ransomware schemes used double-extortion tactics—encrypting victims’ systems while threatening to leak stolen data to further coerce payment. More information on BlackSuit ransomware group can be found in the cybersecurity advisory.