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The latest stories from AHA Today.

Hospital mergers are worth discussing, but "too often the criticism is far from rigorous" and is "more like an echo chamber," write AHA General Counsel Melinda Hatton and others in an AHA Stat Blog post.
U.S. life expectancy rose by 0.1 year in 2018 to 78.7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Among specific improvements, the drug overdose death rate fell by 4.6% overall, to 20.7 per 100,000; and the infant mortality rate fell by 2.3%, to 566.2 per 100,000 live births.
Cyber criminals are using the 2019 novel coronavirus to launch malicious phishing campaigns, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response reported.
America’s hospitals and health systems “will always remain vigilant to the next threat and will continue to take the lead in safeguarding the public against potential threats,” writes AHA Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Jay Bhatt, D.O., in response to a Wall Street Journal article…
CMS issued a proposed rule that would implement the standards governing health insurance issuers and the Health Insurance Marketplaces for 2021.
President Trump issued an executive order to combat human trafficking and online child exploitation in the U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will implement a new ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for reporting vaping-related disorders starting April 1.
Hospital emergency departments, primary care and behavioral health care organizations, public health agencies and tribal organizations may apply through March 30 for fiscal year 2020 grants to implement the Zero Suicide in Health Systems model.
In an AHA Stat Blog post, AHA General Counsel Melinda Hatton and others point out a number of flaws in a study on hospital consolidation and quality, and the way the news media covered it.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) a public health emergency and ordered all U.S. citizens returning from the Wuhan, China, region to be quarantined for two weeks.