AMA’s Free Webinar Recording on Maternity Care Coding Now Available
A recording of a free webinar on maternity care coding hosted by the American Medical Association on June 2 is now available. 

Registration is required to view the recording. The session covers the upcoming Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) 2027 maternity care services code restructuring and includes discussion of reporting across four distinct clinical phases: antepartum care, labor management, delivery care and postpartum care. These changes represent a significant move from a bundled approach to maternity care coding to a transparent, encounter-based framework that reflects modern obstetric care. 

The webinar was presented by Leslie Prellwitz, AMA director of CPT content management and development, and Tammy Love, AHA director of coding and classification policy. 

For the full set of CPT 2027 codes, descriptors and guidelines for maternity care services, FAQs, and other educational resources, visit the AMA resource page.

NIH Researchers Identify Regulatory Cells That Shield Against IBD
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and their colleagues have deciphered a crucial regulatory pathway in the body’s immunologic defense against chronic intestinal inflammation, according to a news release. The research team found that harmful mutations in the GPR15 gene are linked to a cascade of events that cause severe, early-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The discovery opens new avenues and insights for diagnosing and treating IBD.

According to NIH, this discovery is an advance in the broader field of immune regulation and provides insight into elements of immune cell function and medically important roles played by regulatory cells in controlling tissue inflammation.

IBD, which encompasses ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, causes chronic gastrointestinal suffering and can progress to colon cancer. To better understand the disease's underlying mechanisms, researchers interviewed families with children suffering from severe, early-onset IBD. The study provides important new insight into immune mechanisms that maintain a stable environment within the intestine.

The study, published in Nature, provides a major advance in understanding IBD biology and establishes a promising foundation for future therapeutic development.

Study: Researchers Trigger Sleep’s Restorative Effect in the Awake Brain 
By inducing specific patterns of activity in small portions of the brain in awake mice, researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have triggered a recalibration of neural connections that normally only occurs during sleep, according to a news release. 

This new approach offsets the effects of sleep deprivation in memory tasks and revealed features of sleep that are key to its restorative effect. Non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, which makes up about 80% of sleep for adults, is when the junctions between neurons that make memories are evaluated. During this phase, the brain protects important connections for long-term storage, prunes those that are less necessary, and makes space for new ones.

Corresponding author Chiara Cirelli, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her colleagues previously showed that, when sleep-deprived, both rats and humans can exhibit local slow-wave brain activity—a hallmark of NREM sleep—while awake. These deprivation-induced dips into sleep-like activity may have been too sporadic and brief to be beneficial, but the findings raised questions about the possible effects of a longer, more systematic version of this activity.

Join Us Next Week: IHA Small & Rural Hospitals Annual Meeting on June 18
With policy shifts and new technologies reshaping healthcare, small and rural hospital leaders have the opportunity to hear new approaches to care delivery and learn how to leverage artificial intelligence organization-wide. The 2026 IHA Small & Rural Hospital Annual Meeting next Thursday, June 18, will bring together rural-focused national experts and small and rural hospital leaders to share practical strategies to strengthen healthcare.
 
Can’t miss sessions include:

• “The Future of Healthcare: Redefining the Rural Hospital of Tomorrow,” the keynote address by Shawn DuBravac, PhD, CFA, a global futurist, author and president of the Avrio Institute consultancy; and

• “Strengthening Access, Quality and Affordability Through Rural Healthcare Transformation” with Tommy Ibrahim, MD, MBA, MHA, exploring the transformation journey of Sanford Health, where he is executive vice president and chief transformation officer.

You’ll also hear from IHA President and CEO A.J. Wilhelmi in his annual president’s address to small and rural hospital leaders and trustees. Breakout sessions will cover advocacy—featuring the Illinois General Assembly’s Deputy Minority Leader Norine Hammond—as well as chronic conditions data and workforce strategies.

Pre-conference workshops on Wednesday, June 17 will offer ACHE credit, followed by a networking reception. See our event website to register. Over 100 small and rural hospital leaders have already registered—join your peers and IHA at next week’s Annual Meeting!

Staff contact: Bridget McCarte

The Infectious Respiratory Disease Surveillance Dashboard from the Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) provides the latest data on hospital visits, seasonal trends, lab test positivity and demographic data. IDPH also tracks COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus information through the Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System dashboard.

Briefly Noted

Leading the News

‘Stop using’: Popular baby wipes recalled, contamination could cause serious infection
NBC Chicago
Popular baby wipes sold at Target are being recalled after multiple customers complained of “discoloration,” which led to testing that found a bacterial contamination that can cause potentially “life-threatening” infections.

Is remote work hurting Gen Z job prospects more than AI?
Becker’s Hospital Review
Remote work — not AI — could be the main factor behind rising unemployment among young college graduates, according to a June 1 analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Unemployment among college graduates younger than 29 averaged 3.1% from 2017 to 2019, then climbed 20% to 3.7% from 2022 to 2025. The analysis’ authors — a research economist and two economics professors — estimate remote work accounts for 64% of that recent increase.

Lawmakers at the end of session try to appease both sides in drug pricing controversy
Capitol News Illinois 
Illinois lawmakers gave hospitals and community health centers much of what they wanted this session by passing a bill that prohibits drug manufacturers from interfering with their access to discounted medications through a federal drug pricing program.