News

AHA supports efforts to expand the types of educational degrees that would be eligible under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments so as to increase the number of qualified laboratory testing personnel serving the nation’s hospitals and health systems.

A recent Idaho bulletin on requirements for state-based health plans in the individual market “may not be substantially enforcing provisions” of the Affordable Care Act.

Senators this week asked Health and Human Secretary Alex Azar and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to review whether Anthem or any other health plan’s emergency department coverage policies violate the prudent layperson standard.

The flu hospitalization rate rose last week to 86.3 per 100,000 people, although outpatient visits for flu-like illness peaked in early February and are on the decline.

Employment at the nation's hospitals rose by 0.25% in February to a seasonally adjusted 5,143,400 people, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), chairman of the Health Subcommittee on Ways and Means, will speak at the AHA Annual Membership Meeting on May 8 in Washington, D.C.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will host a March 20-21 workshop in Washington, D.C.

Health care is changing…and hospitals and health systems are transforming to meet the evolving needs of our patients and communities.

The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing released a digital and television ad urging Congress to pass the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act to lower drug prices.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia this week voided a CMS rule regarding how third-party payments are treated for purposes of calculating the hospital-specific limitation on Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments.

CMS Tuesday posted a list of Medicare-Severity-Diagnosis Related Groups that will be excluded from the clinical episodes of care in its Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced model.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today held the sixth in a series of hearings on the opioid crisis, which focused on state strategies to address the crisis

Cigna Corp. plans to acquire pharmacy benefit management company Express Scripps in a transaction valued at about $67 billion.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joseph Crowley (D-NY) will speak at the AHA Annual Membership Meeting on May 7 in Washington, D.C.

The National Quality Forum today announced a guide to help health care organizations and clinicians advance opioid stewardship and appropriate pain management.

AHA's Physician Alliance will host a webinar March 13 featuring Dan Diamond, M.D., on responding to difficult challenges, including physician burnout.

AHA yesterday urged the Department of Labor not to finalize a proposed rule that would allow employers, including sole proprietors, to form association health plans based on geography or industry.

Hospitals are experiencing a nursing shortage that will continue to weigh on hospital finances for at least the next three to four years.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has clarified its inpatient rehabilitation facility medical review guidelines to confirm that auditors should not deny claims solely because a therapy time threshold, commonly referred to as the “3-hour rule,” was not met.

A new online tool from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality allows users to compare county-level hospitalization rates for opioids, alcohol, stimulants and other drugs.