CMS on Thursday proposed new standards for Medicaid and CHIP health plans, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Georgia and Maryland.

• Georgia: CDC  on Thursday reported that U.S. cigarette use fell to an all-time low in 2022, with just one in nine adults saying they were current smokers. According to the agency's preliminary findings, which were based on survey responses from over 27,000 adults, electronic cigarette use rose to roughly one in 17 adults during the same period. While the decline in cigarette use is promising, Jonathan Samet, dean of the  Colorado School of Public Health, noted that the rise in electronic cigarette use is concerning. "I think that smoking will continue to ebb downwards, but whether the prevalence of nicotine addiction will drop, given the rise of electronic products is not clear," said Samet, who has contributed to the U.S. Surgeon General reports on smoking and health for nearly 40 years. (Stobbe, Associated Press, 4/27)
• Maryland: CMS on Thursday proposed new standards for Medicaid and CHIP health plans. Under the proposed rules, states would be required to report on the quality of patient care and provider payment rates and oversee these measures with "secret shopper" surveys. Medicaid plans would also be required to set appointments for enrollees within two weeks. According to CMS, the rules would set historic national standards for access to care. "We are proposing to line up a floor on appointment timeliness with what actually exists for commercial plans on the marketplace," said Medicaid and CHIP Director Dan Tsai. If finalized, the rule would ensure that "every state has to benchmark their base rates for Medicaid relative to Medicare payment rates, which is a national standard that allows for comparison and easy benchmarking across states," Tsai added. "[The rules are] focused on increasing transparency and accountability by those who are managing the Medicaid program," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said. "We are going to standardize data and monitoring more so we can keep tabs." (Dreher, Axios, 4/28; Turner, Modern Healthcare, 4/27; Morse, Healthcare Finance, 4/27; Owermohle, STAT, 4/27)
• Maryland: FDA on Wednesday approved the first oral fecal microbiota product to prevent recurrent Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infections in adults. The treatment, which is made from healthy bacteria found in human waste, provides an easier version of stool-based transplant procedures that have been used for over a decade. FDA approved  Seres Therapeutics' treatment for adults 18 and older who experience repeat C. diff infections after receiving antibiotic treatment. "Today's approval provides patients and healthcare providers a new way to help prevent recurrent C. difficile infection," said Peter Marks, director of FDA's  Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "The availability of a fecal microbiota product that can be taken orally is a significant step forward in advancing patient care and accessibility for individuals who have experienced this disease that can be potentially life-threatening." (Ingram, MedPage Today, 4/27; Perrone, Associated Press, 4/27)