Editor's Note Financial incentives can shape surgeons’ decision-making, but their effectiveness depends on the structure of the payment model. This is the central message of a January 26 article in Forbes reporting on two studies: one linking a sharp increase in hernia cases to a simple Medicare coding change, and…

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Editor’s Note Entities covered by the HIPAA security rule may soon need to adapt to more prescriptive requirements, new compliance mandates, and significantly higher costs, according to a January 24 report from TechTarget. As outlined in a December notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), the proposal by the Department of Health…

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Editor's Note Using electronic medical record (EMR) data to track time-stamped information on patient movements and interaction with healthcare workers (HCWs) can help predict and block potential avenues for pathogen transmission, researchers claim. Healio reported the news January 24. Published in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the research…

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Editor's Note A new machine learning model using photoplethysmogram (PPG) data more accurately assesses pain during and after surgery compared to existing commercial methods, according to research published January 24 in Nature’s npj Digital Medicine. Analyzing data from 242 patients, researchers developed an XGBoost-based model to assess intraoperative and postoperative…

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Editor's Note According to medical experts, healthcare professionals in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) must be more vigilant in recognizing and managing suicidal ideation among patients, Pain Medicine News January 27 reports. With the increasing shift of surgical procedures from hospitals to ASCs, clinicians are more likely to encounter patients struggling…

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Editor's Note The first study to directly compare kidney-related adverse outcomes between perioperative use of gabapentin and pregabalin shows that the former drug carries a higher risk, Renal and Urology News reported January 21. Published in Frontiers in Medicine, the study involved a trial emulation of 1,280 propensity-matched surgical patients…

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Editor's Note The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision limiting race in college admissions has triggered an overzealous response from many medical schools, leading to a sharp decline in enrollment for underrepresented groups, according to an article published January 23 in STAT.  As detailed in the article, Legal advisors have pushed schools…

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Editor’s Note At the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) annual meeting, experts urged cardiac surgeons to become more engaged in tricuspid valve treatment before transcatheter options gain too much traction according to a January 26 report in MedPage Today. With new transcatheter devices gaining FDA approval and the Centers for…

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Editor's Note Bain Capital Private Equity put forward a proposal to acquire all remaining shares of Surgery Partners, an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) operator in which Bain Capital already holds a 39% stake, Modern Healthcare January 28 reports. According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the…

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Editor's Note Sleep surgery outperforms continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy in reducing of motor vehicle accidents (MVA) risk among patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), particularly those with poor CPAP adherence or severe disease, according to research published January 21 by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.…

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