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The latest stories from AHA Today.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today released the proposed rule for the home health prospective payment system for calendar year 2016, which, after all policy changes, would reduce home health payments by 1.8% from 2015 payment levels. CMS proposes a 2.9% market-basket update…
For 12 months after ICD-10 implementation, physicians and other practitioners who bill Medicare under the Part B physician fee schedule will not have claims denied by Medicare review contractors based solely on the specificity of the ICD-10 code if they use a valid ICD-10 code from the correct…
A new infographic from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services outlines five key steps for health care providers transitioning to ICD-10: make a plan, train staff, update processes, talk with vendors and health plans, and test systems and processes. The infographic includes links to…
The Department of Health and Human Services today awarded $228.5 million to states, territories and metropolitan areas for the Hospital Preparedness Program in fiscal year 2015, and $611 million for the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program.
Aetna plans to acquire Humana Inc. for $37 billion in cash and stock, the companies announced Friday. They said the merger would create the nation’s second-largest managed care company, with more than 33 million Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and other health plan members. The companies…
The Department of Health and Human Services last week issued county-level data on 2015 open enrollment in qualified health plans in the 37 states using the HealthCare.gov platform for their Health Insurance Marketplace. The data includes total plan selections by metal level, consumer type (new…
Hospital representatives are invited to attend a webinar July 8 at 2 p.m. ET to review recent Recovery Audit Contractor policy developments and results from the AHA’s most recent RACTrac survey.
A more flexible two-midnight policy could offer good news for hospitals, the AHA said last week in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) release of the proposed 2016 rule for the hospital outpatient prospective payment and ambulatory surgical center payment…
Adults who are poor or lack health insurance are more likely to report serious mental illness and thoughts of suicide than other adults, according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration showing population-based variations in behavioral health.
Employment at the nation's hospitals rose by 0.22% in June to a seasonally adjusted 4,887,000 people, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. That's 10,600 more people than in May and 107,600 more than a year ago. Without the seasonal adjustment, which removes the effect of fluctuations…