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The latest stories from AHA Today.
The Senate Finance Committee today approved three AHA-backed bills to support access to hospital services in rural communities and to emergency psychiatric care for underserved and vulnerable populations. S. 1461 would delay through December enforcement of direct supervision requirements for…
Hospitals continue to appeal Recovery Audit Contractor claim denials, according to the latest report from the AHA's quarterly RACTrac survey. Hospitals participating in the first-quarter 2015 survey report appealing 44% of all RAC claim denials, with a 73% overturn rate in the appeals process.…
The House of Representatives last night voted 244-154 to approve legislation (H.R. 1190) to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The 15-member board was created by the Affordable Care Act to make binding recommendations on Medicare payment policy. Hospitals (but not critical assess…
An estimated 36 million U.S. residents lacked health insurance at some time during 2014, 8.8 million fewer than in 2013, according to a report released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The proportion of residents who were uninsured when interviewed for the National…
Fewer than one in 10 eligible older patients receive an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator within one year of a heart attack, according to a study published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. ICDs are small devices implanted in the chest or abdomen to help treat…
In a letter to the editor published today, AHA takes issue with a recent New York Times editorial for failing to “mention some key facts” about the complexities of hospital prices. “First and foremost, Medicare and Medicaid payments do not reflect hospital costs,” notes…
The Class of 2017 profiles the women and men who joined the AHA board this year.Every hospital is pursuing its own pathway to a more performance-driven future, says Thomas Miller, who is president of Division V Operations for Community Health Systems in Franklin, Tenn.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) today introduced the Rural Emergency Acute Care Hospital Act, legislation that would allow Critical Access Hospitals and prospective payment system hospitals with 50 or fewer beds to convert to Rural Emergency Hospitals. REHs would provide only emergency care and…
A Senate appropriations subcommittee today approved legislation that would provide $153.2 billion in discretionary funding for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and related agencies in fiscal year 2016, $3.6 billion less than this year.
Ranking members of House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over federal health care programs yesterday urged Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to finalize a 2011 rule proposing a process to ensure that states reimburse Medicaid providers sufficiently under the Medicaid…