Editor's Note On August 4, the Department of Health and Human Services Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center released a security alert warning hospitals of a new ransomware group called Rhysida that has been active since May 2023 and is recently targeting healthcare by breaching networks and demanding a ransom. According…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, examines the association between intraoperative opioid administration and postoperative pain and opioid use. A total of 61, 249 surgical patients were included in the analysis. The researchers found that increased intraoperative: fentanyl and…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 9, announced that it is revising a performance measure for the advanced Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement (THKR) Certification Program—THKR-5: Postoperative Functional/Health Status Assessment—to align with a similar Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) measure. The recently adopted CMS performance measure—Hospital-Level,…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examines the use of a machine learning (ML) model to predict the suitability for having a surgical procedure performed at an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) vs a hospital-based outpatient department (HOPD). To augment a labor intensive manual process in…

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Editor's Note The American Hospital Association (AHA), on August 9, announced that COVID-19 HIPAA rules for telehealth would expire at 11:59 pm. The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) implemented a HIPAA policy for telehealth during the COVID-19 public health emergency, which provided enforcement discretion…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 9, announced the publication of a new guide from Joint Commission Resources (JCR) that provides basic knowledge and awareness for healthcare workers (HCWs) about the ways in which patients are diverse. The guide focuses on aspects of diversity that include ethnicity, race, culture,…

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Editor's Note This Canadian study examines the extent to which a 12-week app-based exercise intervention can reduce depressive symptoms, burnout, and absenteeism in healthcare workers (HCWs). A total of 288 HCWs were included in this two-group (142 in exercise group, 146 in control group) randomized clinical trial. Exercise group participants…

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Editor's Note In an opinion piece, Katie Boston-Leary, PhD, MBA, MHA, NEA-BC, director of nursing programs at the American Nurses Association (ANA), says that nurses want to practice nursing and not be the “organizational sponge” that absorbs all other tasks that other professionals will not, can not, or are unavailable…

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Editor's Note The University of Montana, Missoula, recently received a $3.6 million grant from the Health Resource and Service Administration that will fund a program to create a pathway for licensed practical nurses (LPNs) to quickly become RNs. The new LPN-to-RN bridge program will grant credit for experience LPNs have…

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Editor's Note This study, led by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examines opportunities to improve inequitable postoperative outcomes by evaluating unmet social health needs by race, ethnicity, and insurance type. Outcomes included poor health status (self-reported), socioeconomic status (income, education, employment), and unmet social health needs (food,…

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