News

The House and Senate Committees on Veterans’ Affairs yesterday held a joint hearing on progress to implement the VA MISSION Act of 2018, AHA-supported legislation that will consolidate the Department of Veterans Affairs' community care programs into a single permanent program.

A recent Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General audit report on 2013 inpatient rehabilitation facility stays “is a prime example” of the AHA’s ongoing concerns with OIG audit reports targeting potential Medicare overpayments to hospitals.

The Department of Health and Human Services this week issued a statement confirming that the agency will continue administering and enforcing all aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

About 71 percent of hospitals participated in at least one national health information network in 2017, according to a new report on electronic health information exchange by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

In a column published yesterday in Modern Healthcare, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack and Atrium Health CEO Eugene A. Woods, who served as AHA Chairman in 2017, write about the potential ramifications of a federal judge’s recent ruling that the entire Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.

More than 182,000 Virginia adults have enrolled in coverage effective Jan. 1 under the state’s Medicaid expansion and thousands more are eligible, Gov. Ralph Northam announced yesterday.

The Association of American Medical Colleges today named as its next president and CEO David Skorton, M.D., who currently serves as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Nearly 8.5 million people selected a health plan through HealthCare.gov during 2019 open enrollment, including more than 4.3 million last week.

The Senate is expected to vote later today on a continuing resolution that would fund certain federal programs through Feb. 8 in an effort to prevent a shutdown of those programs when their current funding expires Friday night.

Clinicians should strongly consider prescribing or co-prescribing naloxone to certain patients at risk for opioid overdose, and educating them about its use, according to guidance released today by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services seeks stakeholder input on the potential for actual or perceived conflicts of interest when Medicare-approved accrediting organizations offer fee-based consulting services to the Medicare-participating providers and suppliers they accredit.

Judge Reed O’Connor today issued an order in response to a motion filed yesterday by 17 Democratic attorneys general asking him to confirm that the Affordable Care Act remains in effect nationwide and allow for a prompt appeal of his decision that the law is unconstitutional.

The Department of Health and Human Services today issued a proposed rule that would rescind the standard unique health plan identifier (HPID) and other entity identifier (OEID), as recommended by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has extended to Jan. 4 the deadline for hospitals and their vendors to voluntarily submit data for the hybrid hospital-wide readmissions measure to the inpatient quality reporting program.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Friday approved a Section 1115 waiver extending a New Mexico Medicaid demonstration for five years, and authorizing the state to receive federal funding to treat enrollees with opioid and other substance use disorders who are short-term residents in Institutions for Mental Disease.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams today issued an advisory urging action to address an “epidemic” of electronic cigarette use by youth.

We look ahead with optimism as we advance the goals of improving health care quality, equity, access and affordability for all Americans.  

The Federal Trade Commission’s approach to reviewing hospital mergers “is overbroad, does not properly credit the many pro-consumer benefits of hospital transactions, and ignores key realities of the marketplace,” according to an analysis submitted to the agency Friday for a series of FTC hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century.

The AHA today voiced support for a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposal to require drug pricing transparency in direct-to-consumer television advertisements and encouraged the agency to “rein in skyrocketing drug prices” for patients and the providers who serve them.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released additional guidance on the physician fee schedule final rule for calendar year 2019.