News

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Subcommittee on Health Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL) yesterday sent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma recommendations to further alleviate Medicare administrative and regulatory burdens for hospitals, post-acute care providers and physicians.

The AHA, Association of American Medical Colleges, America’s Essential Hospitals, and three hospital plaintiffs today refiled a lawsuit in federal district court seeking expedited relief from Medicare payment cuts for many hospitals in the 340B Drug Pricing Program.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday published clinical guidelines for health care providers treating children with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), also known as concussion.

The AHA’s Association for the Health Care Environment has received two awards for its Certified Health Care Environmental Services Technician program.

AHA Aug. 31 expressed support for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ efforts to develop an alternative to the current home health case-mix system, but urged the agency to continue to refine the proposed patient-driven groupings model to address provider concerns.

House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders Aug. 30 sent a letter to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission asking it to conduct additional research on hospital consolidation and the financial impact it has on Medicare patients and the program.

The AHA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have published a new guide with team-based best practices, case studies and resources on preventing infections in the health care environment.

Accountable care organizations saved Medicare about $314 million in 2017.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 29 announced that beginning in 2020 it will allow Medicare Part D plans to vary the formulary placement of a drug based on what condition the drug may treat.

The AHA Aug. 28 urged the Drug Enforcement Administration to reconsider its proposed 2019 aggregate production quotas for certain controlled substances, which the agency said would reduce manufacturing quotas for six frequently misused opioids by an average 10 percent.

Legislators sent a letter to the Health Resources and Services Administration urging the agency to implement regulations to better administer the 340B drug savings program.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Aug. 27 released an evaluation report for the first performance year of the agency’s Next Generation Accountable Care Organization Model.

The Senate last night voted 85-7 to pass an $857 billion spending package, which includes bills that would fund the departments of Health and Human Services, Defense and Labor for fiscal year 2019.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General seeks comments on how it can modify the anti-kickback statute and exceptions to the beneficiary inducements civil monetary penalty definition of “remuneration.”

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday announced a new payment and service delivery model as part of a multi-pronged strategy to combat the nation’s opioid crisis.

The Food and Drug Administration recently authorized the temporary import of hydromorphone hydrochloride injection from Canada to address a critical shortage of the drug, an opioid pain medication.

Health care and public health professionals can register to attend a Sept. 19-20 workshop in Omaha, Neb., on preparing for emerging infectious diseases, such as Ebola.

In children, antibiotics are the leading cause of emergency department visits for adverse drug events.

The health care community’s efforts alone are not enough to stem the tide of the opioid epidemic. We need more help from the federal government.

The AHA today expressed support for and urged all senators to support an amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill that would help address the out-of-control cost of prescription drugs.