News From Around the Web
> Researchers could not determine a correlation between flu vaccinations among children under five years old and reduced hospitalization rates for flu-related illnesses in children, according to a study in Pediatrics. Study abstract
> Malaria fatalities and new cases of the disease are both down, but that progress is tenuous in nations affected by the Ebola outbreak, according to new data from the World Health Organization. Announcement
> Doctors who make more do so in part by ordering multiple procedures for patients, a study slated to appear in February's issue of JAMA Internal Medicine finds, according to News Medical. Article
Health Finance News
> Hospital hiring, which stayed mostly stagnant for several years as part of the uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act, has blossomed back to life over the past year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Altarum Health Institute's Center for Sustainable Health Spending. Article
> The American Hospital Association has appealed directly to the chief administrative law judge of the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals to assist in reforming a system currently overloaded with appeals of recoupments made by recovery audit contractors. Article
And Finally… That's just nuts. Article