Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up in April to a seasonally adjusted 16,752,600 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on May 5. That’s up 39,600 since March. Hospital employment also was up by 6,600 jobs. The overall unemployment rate for April was 3.4%, for a…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on May 3, announced the revision of several of its elements of performance (EPs) for critical access hospitals to align with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) Conditions of Participation (CoPs). The revisions primarily address restraint and seclusion, the complaint process, and unified…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, also referred to as Arcturus, accounted for nearly 12% of COVID-19 cases in the US last week, and another relative, XBB.1.9.1 is responsible for 9% of cases, as of April 29, the April 28…

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Editor's Note The National Institutes of Health (NIH) program, titled “Research With Activities Related to Diversity” (ReWARD) is now accepting grant applications, the American Hospital Association April 27 reports. The earliest submission deadline is May 5, and the final deadline for the first 6-month cycle is June 5. Applications can…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on April 26, announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requirement to count the volume of ventricular assist device (VAD) implants by surgeons will be reinstated on May 11. CMS stopped this requirement during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, on April 26, announced updates to the enforcement process for its hospital price transparency rule. CMS will now automatically impose a civil monetary penalty if hospitals do not submit a corrective action plan on time or complete it within 45 days.…

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Editor's Note The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), on April 10, announced the release of updated standards for its 3-year Advanced Orthopaedic Certification program, which will take effect July 1, 2023. The updated Certification Handbook for Advanced Orthopaedics, v42, introduces new terminology and standards architecture plus a revised…

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Editor's Note The US State Department will not accept any more applications for green cards for foreign nurses this year, and only applications that were submitted by June 2022 will be processed until the backlog eases, the April 24 Becker’s Clinical Leadership & Infection Control reports. Current green card processing…

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Takeaways Leading practice is innovative, people-centered, and evidence-informed and can encompass best practices and benchmarking data. This article includes survey data on preadmission and preoperative practices, block scheduling, and room delays/turnover. The total number of respondents for Part 2 of the survey was 133, the majority of whom (70.7%) were…

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Takeaways Perianesthesia and sterile processing leaders are feeling the pain of staffing shortages. Strategies to recruit and retain staff include raising pay, establishing clinical ladders, training programs, and a positive work environment. A 2022 study found that Certified Post Anesthesia nurses are more satisfied with their jobs than noncertified nurses.…

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