Editor's Note In this study from Harvard Medical School, Boston, researchers find that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with shifts in the focus of industry payments for research to physicians and teaching hospitals and an immediate and sustained decline in payments for marketing. During the study period (2018 to 2021), 705,490…

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Editor's Note The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released new statistics on inpatient stays with OR procedures by patient race and ethnicity from the 2019 National Inpatient Sample. Among the findings: Nonmaternal (ie, men and women of any age) hospitalizations with OR procedures in Black and White…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, finds that it may be reasonable to consider performing cataract surgery without routine anesthesia support. Medicare claims for 36,652 patients who had cataract surgery were analyzed. Among the findings: 89.8% had an anesthesia provider, compared to…

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Editor's Note On Thursday, September 29, the House of Representatives voted 220-205 to pass legislation to impose new fines on insures that do not follow federal mental health pay parity requirements, in order to "hold employer-based health plans more accountable for improper denials of mental health and substance use benefits,"…

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Editor's Note Hundreds of hospitals are at risk of flooding from Hurricane Ian according to a Harvard study, Becker's Hospital Review September 29 reports. As the Category 2 hurricane makes its way through Florida, at least 50 percent of hospitals in 25 metropolitan areas along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, finds that between December 2019 and December 2021, nearly one-third of large, tax exempt hospitals improved their charity care policies. Across the 2-year period, 127 of 151 (84.15) hospitals updated their policies, and 77 (51.0%)…

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Editor's Note This study by nurse researcher Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, finds that the Safe Staffing for Quality Act under consideration by the New York state assembly would save lives, shorten hospital stays, reduce readmissions, and lower costs.…

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As the response to the COVID-19 pandemic becomes embedded in hospitals, OR leaders’ satisfaction with their job is improving, according to the 2022 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. Nearly three-fourths (72%) view their current job favorably, up from 64% last year and just below 2020’s 77%. However, satisfaction with many other…

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This year, the OR Manager Conference is celebrating 35 years of bringing together OR managers and directors and helping the perioperative community educate, learn, and network. Since the early days of this great conference, OR Manager has expanded the agenda and the exhibit floor to include various education offerings, including…

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Download the PDF Version of the Industry Spotlight In 2013, LeanTaaS partnered with Stanford Health Care to solve an infusion scheduling challenge and created an algorithm to optimally match available supply with ongoing demand. The solution for Stanford worked, leading to 18 months of refining algorithms before creating the product,…

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