Editor's Note The Mayo Clinic is offering a 5-day surgery fellowship program for journalists, sponsored by the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Journalists will see the surgical process from preop to recovery, including time in the operating room, and they will receive an in-depth look at the latest…

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Editor's Note This population-based analysis finds that implementation of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) interventions in total joint patients is limited, with some current trends virtually in contrast to practice guidelines. Of more than 1 million patients analyzed, anesthetic techniques did not differ by OSA status, and overall, less than 25%…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on July 19 announced that the University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, is the first hospital in the nation to achieve its Comprehensive Cardiac Center (CCC) Certification. To achieve certification, hospitals must demonstrate compliance with consensus-based standards, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for cardiac care,…

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Editor's Note Reductions in readmissions associated with the Affordable Care Act have not had the unintended consequence of increasing mortality after hospital discharge, finds this study. Analysis of more than 5 million Medicare patients hospitalized for heart failure, heart attack, or pneumonia, found that reductions in hospital 30-day readmission rates…

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Editor's Note Women with breast cancer who have nipple-sparing mastectomies have a low rate of cancer recurrence in the first 5 years, this study finds. Of 311 patients with nipple-sparing mastectomies analyzed, 17 developed a recurrence of their cancer at 51 months median follow-up. Estimated disease-free survival was 95.7% at…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 13 issued the CY 2018 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System proposed rule. CMS is proposing an update of 1.9% for ASCs, which is a combination of a 2.3% inflation update…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on July 13 issued a proposed rule that updates payment rates and policy changes in the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System. Among the proposals are that Medicare pay for knee replacement procedures performed in outpatient…

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Editor's Note Researchers from Zurich, Switzerland, have created an artificial heart out of silicone using 3D printing. The artificial heart, which mimics the human heart in shape and function, presently has a lifespan of approximately 3,000 beats, or about 30 to 45 minutes. The researchers hope to develop a more…

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Editor's Note The LivaNova factory in Munich, Germany, a manufacturer of heater-cooler units used in cardiothoracic surgery, appears to be the source of a global outbreak of Mycobacterium chimaera, this study finds. Researchers matched the DNA of samples taken from 21 infected cardiothoracic surgical patients to samples from heater-cooler units…

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Editor's Note Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) announced July 11 that it has been designated a Health Care’s Most Wired 2017 by the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Health Forum. Hospitals & Health Networks, an AHA publication, annually assesses the level of health information technology adoption in US hospitals and health…

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