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The latest stories from AHA Today.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released two rules, one final and one proposed, to address eligibility and appeals processes for the Medicaid and CHIP programs. The final rule completes the agency’s work related to appeals, notices and Medicaid eligibility changes…
AHA today commended the Senate Finance Committee Chronic Care Working Group on the release of its recent draft legislation to address the needs of Medicare beneficiaries and recommended further refinements. “We appreciate the deliberate and thoughtful process undertaken by the CCWG to solicit…
The Measure Applications Partnership today published a list of 97 measures under consideration for use in hospital and other Medicare public reporting and payment programs, including about 20 measures for potential use in the hospital inpatient and outpatient quality reporting programs.…
Palliative care services are associated with statistically and clinically significant improvements in measures of patient quality of life and symptom burden, according to a study in today’s JAMA. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh identified 43 randomized clinical trials of…
Four of every 1,000 emergency department visits were related to adverse drug events, according to a study in today’s issue of JAMA. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined nationally representative data from 58 U.S. EDs participating in the National…
The AHA encourages all hospitals to complete the ninth annual Information Technology Supplement to the AHA Annual Survey. The survey was mailed to hospital CEOs this month for their chief information officer to complete on paper or online by Dec. 16.
Court proceedings got underway today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Anthem’s bid to acquire Cigna. Judge Amy Berman Jackson is expected to rule in the case before the end of the year. The Department of Justice filed suit July 21 to block the acquisition, along…
The World Health Organization said Friday that Zika virus is no longer a world health emergency, but remains “significant enduring public health challenge requiring intense action.” According to the organization, the virus, which is seasonal, and its effects “represent a…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will not finalize guidance related to laboratory developed tests, instead waiting to work with the next administration and Congress, according to multiple news reports. AHA has repeatedly urged the agency not to regulate LDTs as medical devices, as…
The prevalence of dementia in the U.S. declined between 2000 and 2012 from 11.6% to 8.8%, a relative decrease of about 24%, according to a study published online today in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers from the University of Michigan compared data from the Health and Retirement Study, a large…