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The latest stories from AHA Today.

A panel of health care pharmaceutical experts May 3 offered a range of approaches to help rein in what all agreed is an unsustainable increase in prescription drug prices during an executive briefing at the AHA’s annual meeting.  They noted that the growth in the price of prescription…
The two major proposed mergers in the health insurance sector – Aetna-Humana and Anthem-Cigna – should trouble providers and consumers, because evidence suggests health plan consolidation is bad for patients, said panelists during a May 2 executive briefing at the AHA annual meeting.…
About 17% of working-age adults lacked a usual place for medical care when surveyed in 2014, ranging from 3% in Vermont to 27% in Nevada, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adults in states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility were more likely to…
Almost half of seniors with severely impaired vision reported falling in 2014, compared with one in three seniors overall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Based on the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the fall rate for those with severe visual impairment ranged…
Employment at the nation's hospitals rose by 0.45% in April to a seasonally adjusted 5,065,400 people, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. That's 22,900 more people than in March and 194,400 more than a year ago. Without the seasonal adjustment, which removes the effect of…
Post-acute care (PAC) providers are critical partners in the transition toward a more integrated, value-based delivery system, panelists said at a May 1 special AHA Annual meeting briefing.Panelists described the new partnerships emerging between hospitals and PAC providers and the regulatory…
Speaking May 1 at a diversity roundtable at the AHA annual meeting, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) official expressed her support for the AHA’s #123forEquity Pledge to Eliminate Health Care Disparities, and encouraged hospital leaders to “find their voice” on…
Patrick Conway, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services deputy administrator for innovation and quality and chief medical officer, this week indicated that the agency will consider giving hospitals more flexibility in meeting the meaningful use criteria in the Electronic Health Records…
First-year enrollment at U.S. medical schools has increased by 25%, or 4,143 students, since 2002, according to the latest annual survey by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The schools have been ramping up enrollment to address a projected shortage of up to 94,700 physicians…
U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro today named three new members to the Health Information Technology Policy Committee, which recommends policies and standards to the National Coordinator for Health IT. James Ferguson, vice president of HIT strategy and policy at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland…