The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has outlined new changes in its proposed annual inpatient hospital rule, including urging hospitals to disclose their prices to patients and an overhaul of the meaningful use program, reports Modern Healthcare . If the rule is finalized, CMS predicts hospitals will get $4.1 billion more in Medicare inpatient funding next year, compared to last fiscal year's $2.4 billion. The rule is open to comments until June 25. CMS already requires hospitals to either publicly list their standard charges or disclose them upon request, but the agency now says hospitals must post this information. It is unclear whether CMS has the legal authority to make this change, or how difficult implementation could be given the technical nature of hospital billing practices. The agency also wants to overhaul the meaningful use program—which it is renaming "promoting interoperability"—to better highlight measures that require the exchange of health information between providers and patients and give providers incentives to make it easier for patients to access their medical records electronically. The proposed rule encourages the use of application programming interfaces. In addition, CMS proposed eliminating the so-called 25 percent rule that would reduce Medicare reimbursement rates for long-term care hospitals, and scrapping 19 quality measures that hospitals must report on.

According to research from Clarkson University, low "mental energy" may affect walking patterns in older adults more than physical fatigue, reports News-Medical.net . The researchers studied a group of older adults, average age 75, while they did physically and mentally strenuous tasks. First, the participants completed a timed walking test at normal speed for six minutes before and after completing cognitive tests. These tests involved math problems and visually identifying specific numbers and sequences on a computer. The participants also reported their mood, motivation, and energy levels after both the activities. The study found no change in gait connected to mental fatigue during the first 30 seconds of the follow-up walking test. However, researchers discovered that walking speed and stride length declined in people who reported more cognitive fatigue, but not in response to falling physical energy levels. The researchers say more research is needed to determine "why feelings of physical energy and fatigue are not related to gait."

The Senate Health Committee has unanimously voted to send the panel's bipartisan opioid bill to the chamber's floor, reports The Hill . The panel held seven hearings on the opioid crisis, including one on the discussion draft of the bill introduced by Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.). "The challenge before us has sometimes been described as needing a moonshot," Alexander said during the markup. "I believe that solving the opioid crisis might require the energy of a moonshot, but ultimately, it's not something that can be solved by an agency in Washington, D.C." The bill includes more than 40 proposals from 38 different senators. Specifically, it includes measures attempting to make it easier to prescribe smaller packs of opioids for limited durations, spur the development of nonaddictive painkillers, and bolster the detection of illegal drugs at the border.

The U.S. retirement model has become of increasing interest to foreign hackers, typically the perpetrators of large-scale data breaches, reports Employee Benefit News . However, companies, plan sponsors, and plan participants are unaware or underprepared for the ramifications of a cyberattack, experts warn. One problem is that the current system focuses on who is liable in the case of a hack rather than on educating employees on the risks they bring to their own retirement savings.

The 2018 Post Acute 360 Strategy and Solutions Conference will take place June 25-27 at Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Md. The event helps large post acute providers understand the emerging post acute ecosystem and implement the right solutions to enhance their value in it. You can view the full program here . The registration deadline is Friday, April 27 and the event is free for provider executives to attend. Learn more and register here .

In a study published in Physical & Occupational Therapy in Geriatrics , researchers from the University at Buffalo report that regular physical activity may help older women increase their mobility. However, muscle strength and endurance may decline due to frailty if they have not done resistance training. The study analyzed 46 women between the age ranges of 60-74 and 75-90 to learn how physical activity affects frailty in the two groups. Researchers discovered there was a larger difference between the two groups in terms of muscle strength and endurance among those who were very physically active. One of the study's lead authors says the results highlight the importance for older women to build up muscle strength early in the aging process to help slow the effects of growing older.

Neuroscientist Michael Heneka conducted years of research that discovered the brain's immune system plays a major role in the development of dementia, reports Scientific American . Heneka and colleagues eliminated a key inflammation gene, known as Nlpr3, from a strain of mouse that commonly develops Alzheimer's disease. The mice that had the gene removed passed memory tests, showed no signs of protein plaques commonly seen with dementia, and were generally healthy. Subsequent studies have supported Heneka's findings, but none have discovered a solid link. Still, the findings have caught the attention of drug companies that know the market for people with dementia is very large and underserved. However, scientists must still determine if the brain's immune system needs to be ramped up or dialed down during different phases of the disease to have an impact. There are also continued struggles with clinical trials involving Alzheimer's disease that may slow development of this potential treatment. Still, experts are excited about the potential these findings have and what they could lead to in the future for dementia treatment.

The economy is strong and stocks are near record levels. But a long-running survey shows retirees' confidence in having enough money to cover basic living expenses has dropped over the past year, due in part to concerns about medical expenses, reports the Wall Street Journal . Released Tuesday by the non-profit Employee Benefit Research Institute, the survey shows that 80 percent of polled retirees are optimistic about their ability to afford basic expenses, down from 85 percent last year. Driving the declines are concerns among retirees about rising medical and long-term-care expenses and the uncertain finances of Social Security and Medicare. Those programs may be forced to cut benefits for future retirees due to their projected insolvency in coming decades.

The Colorado Board of Health has approved revised Chapter 7 assisted living residence (ALR) licensure rules . The new rules include several changes for ALRs, such as requirements for CPR, first aid, and lift assistance; implementation of the Facility Guideline Institute (FGI) standards for new construction and renovations; additional staff training; and revisions to the secure environment section. The approved rules also include a minimum qualification for administrators, which was changed from previous versions, and require administrators to have a high school diploma, be 21 years of age, and have at least one year of experience supervising the delivery of personal care services that include activities of daily living.

More than 20 percent of older adults may experience delirium, according to EurekaAlert . In a new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society , researchers set out to learn whether caregivers could use existing questionnaires and other tools to detect delirium on their own. The researchers reviewed 6,056 scientific papers about delirium screening, identifying six tools that caregivers could use. Each one took just several minutes or less to use and had 11 items or fewer to complete. Three tools could be completed by the caregiver alone.