News

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will host a Jan. 29 webinar on electronic clinical quality measure reporting for the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting and Promoting Interoperability Programs.

Seven national hospital associations, including the AHA, today urged public and private stakeholders to unite behind a six-point agenda to ensure the nation can fully achieve the secure exchange of patient health information to support optimal individual health, health care and value.

Twelve organizations, including the AHA, Friday urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to extend the Feb. 19 deadline for accountable care organizations applying to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program beginning July 1.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Acute Pain will host a Feb. 4 public workshop as part of its information gathering activities.

Connecticut hospitals and health systems generated $27.7 billion in economic activity in 2017, and invested $1.7 billion in community benefit initiatives.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission this week recommended that Congress provide a 2 percent market-basket update for the hospital inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems in 2020,

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation today announced a new payment model for Medicare

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today approved a Section 1115 waiver for Arizona that will require certain adults aged 19 to 49 to work or participate in training or community service an average 80 hours per month to continue qualifying for Medicaid.

The International Hospital Federation is accepting abstracts through Feb. 15 for its 2019 World Hospital Congress.

Last week, I shared a few areas where we can advance health in America this year, even in a divided Congress. Number one on that list: reining in the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today issued proposed rules for plans sold on the Health Insurance Marketplaces for the 2020 benefit year.

To encourage drug companies to seek approval for over-the-counter versions of naloxone, an emergency treatment for opioid overdose, the Food and Drug Administration today released model consumer-friendly labels for prospective OTC versions of the drug.

Patients in the most rural counties had an 87 percent greater chance of receiving an opioid prescription from their primary care provider between January 2014 and March 2017 than patients in large metropolitan areas.

An estimated 23 percent of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions filled by privately insured children and non-elderly adults in the United States in 2016 were inappropriate.

Commenting today on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s draft recommendations for 2020, AHA said it supports the recommendation to provide current law market-basket updates for the hospital inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems.

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday heard oral arguments in an appeal of a D.C. Circuit Court decision that the Department of Health and Human Services violated the Medicare Act when it changed Medicare’s reimbursement adjustment formula for disproportionate share hospitals without providing notice and opportunity to comment.

The U.S. health care system continues to make progress automating business transactions, but could save an additional $9.8 billion annually if providers and health plans fully adopted certain electronic transactions.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently finished mailing new Medicare cards to beneficiaries, which replace the Social Security-based number on their previous cards with a new Medicare beneficiary identifier.

Hospitals and health systems may apply through Feb. 19 for the 2019 AHA Equity of Care Award, which recognizes organizations participating in the AHA's #123forEquity campaign for extraordinary success in advancing diversity and equity through data collection, leadership, cultural awareness and partnerships.

The Government Accountability Office today released a congressionally-mandated report examining approaches and challenges to matching patients to their electronic health records, and efforts to improve patient record matching.