IHA Leadership Summit: Sponsors Offer Solutions, Support
Nearly 50 sponsors will be at the
2025 IHA Leadership Summit—just a few weeks away—to share potential solutions that can benefit Illinois hospitals and health systems. Their solutions span operations to medical care, with the goal of improving healthcare and strengthening financial viability.
IHA thanks our 2025 Corporate Sponsors for their generous support of the Summit. Their participation helps make the Summit possible. We encourage hospital leaders to meet with the sponsors to find out how they can assist your organization.
Also, you can participate in our Corporate Sponsor Challenge for a chance to win one of two $500 Visa gift cards and a complimentary registration to the 2026 IHA Leadership Summit. If you haven’t yet registered for the Summit,
click here.
REGISTER: IHA Webinar on Common Survey Citations Sept. 10
Most survey citations among Illinois acute care hospitals fall under three sections of Conditions of Participation (CoPs): infection prevention, patient rights and nursing services. An IHA webinar on Sept. 10, “
Acute Hospital Survey Trends: Common Deficiencies and Insights,” will spotlight high-frequency citations in those sections and what surveyors are looking for when assessing compliance.
Compliance expert Nancy Ruzicka will lead the noon-1:30 p.m. CT webinar designed for hospital and health system CEOs, COOs, CMOs and CNOs, as well as clinical leaders and leaders in compliance, accreditation and regulation, quality improvement, risk management, and infection prevention.
A former surveyor, Ruzicka recently led IHA CoP and EMTALA webinars. She was director of integrity and compliance and a privacy official at MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center and director of regulatory compliance at UnityPoint Health in Des Moines. Now a consultant, she provides onsite mock surveys, interpretation of Medicare CoPs and education on federal regulations.
By attending the Sept. 10 webinar, you’ll gain practical strategies to address and prevent common deficiencies and insights into staying current with evolving regulations and guidelines.
Nurse continuing education credit is available. The webinar recording will be available to registrants for 30 days after the session. Registration is $195 for hospitals and $395 for health systems. Please note IHA’s “Health System” registration option to accommodate systems enrolling multiple hospitals.
Register today.
HHS Issues Enforcement Notice on Information Blocking
The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) yesterday
announced it will enhance resources intended to curb the practice of information blocking. HHS said it will take active enforcement against healthcare entities violating information blocking rules by restricting patients’ access, exchange and use of electronic health information.
Enforcement efforts will be led by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the HHS Office of Inspector General. The agency said that, using authorities granted by the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016, it will take enforcement actions to hold those accountable who block health data for patients, caregivers, providers and health innovators. HHS said that those who commit information blocking violations may be subject to disincentives, which were finalized last year.
FDA Releases Rare Disease Evidence Principles
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday
released Rare Disease Evidence Principles (RDEP) the FDA said will improve the speed and predictability of the review of therapies intended to treat rare diseases with very small patient populations and significant unmet medical need and that are driven by a known genetic defect. Through the RDEP process, sponsors will receive clearer guidance on the types of evidence that can be used to demonstrate substantial evidence of effectiveness. The FDA noted that it can be difficult or even impossible to generate substantial evidence of safety and efficacy—as required by statute—using multiple traditional clinical trials when developing drugs for rare diseases. For more information about the RDEP process and FAQs, please
click here.
CDC 2025-2026 Respiratory Disease Season Outlook
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its
2025-2026 outlook released Aug. 25 that it anticipates the upcoming fall and winter respiratory disease season in the United States will likely have a similar number of combined peak hospitalizations due to COVID-19, influenza, and RSV as last season. The CDC said that peak weekly COVID-19 hospitalization rates may be higher this season, particularly if a variant with moderate immune-escape properties emerges. Though the 2024-2025 influenza season was classified as a high-severity season, the occurrence of consecutive high-severity seasons has not been observed since the CDC began systematically assessing the severity of the influenza season during the 2003-2004 season; however, it remains possible.
