News

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar yesterday declared a public health emergency in California due to the wildfires, and waived or modified certain Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program requirements to help health care providers meet patients’ needs.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar today previewed the agency’s plans to better address social determinants of health.

he National Center for Healthcare Leadership last night presented its 2018 Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award to Nancy Howell Agee, president and CEO of Carilion Clinic and 2018 AHA chair.

The CDC has confirmed 90 cases of acute flaccid myelitis in 27 states so far this year, triple the number in 2017, according to a report the agency released today.

CMS announced new opportunities for states to design innovative service delivery systems for adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbance, including Section 1115 waivers for short-term residential treatment services in an Institution for Mental Disease.

Seventeen organizations, including the AHA, today urged Congress to resist any attempts from the pharmaceutical industry to undo during the lame duck session provisions included in the Bipartisan Budget Act to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors.

President Trump has declared a major disaster in counties affected by the California wildfires, making federal funding available to help individuals and organizations recover, the FEMA announced today.

Outpatient opioid prescriptions for children have steadily declined since 2012, driven by fewer prescriptions for hydrocodone, according to a study reported online by JAMA Pediatrics.

A health system consortium recently received $9 million from the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Moonshot initiative to develop, implement and evaluate an app to help patients report and better manage their cancer treatment symptoms.

The Camp Fire seriously damaged part of Adventist Health Feather River hospital in Paradise, Calif., including some inpatient units and multiple hospital outbuildings, the hospital reports.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has updated its alternative payment model participation status tool for the 2018 Quality Payment Program, which identifies eligible clinicians who qualify as advanced APM participants based on Medicare Part B claims data through June.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will discuss its updated price transparency guidelines for hospitals during a Nov. 13 Open Door Forum.

The Department of Health and Human Services today updated its physical activity guidelines for Americans, the first since the guidelines were released in 2008.

We are surrounded by a sea of data: Health information is doubling every three years. By 2020, it’s estimated it will double every 73 days.

The Department of Health and Human Services is considering new episode-based payment models, including mandatory and voluntary models.

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission yesterday urged the Department of Health and Human Services to pause disenrollments related to work requirements in Arkansas’ Medicaid program.

The Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization for a rapid, single-use test to detect Ebola virus.

Mothers and infants enrolled in the Strong Start birth centers model had $2,010 lower costs on average, 25 percent lower preterm birth rates and better birth outcomes than other comparable women enrolled in Medicaid.

A Montana ballot initiative that would have provided funding to continue Medicaid coverage for low-income adults beyond 2019 failed by a narrow margin Tuesday, with 47 percent of voters supporting the measure.

Now that Election 2018 is in the books, what do the results mean for hospitals and health systems?