Editor's Note The American Hospital Association (AHA) released a new fact sheet describing various waivers issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) during the COVID-19 pandemic that AHA opines should be extended or made permanent, as reported by the January 31 Healthcare Purchasing News. The waivers relate…

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Editor's Note Reducing OR time availability at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh, by 15% helped address a 30% staffing shortage caused by COVID-19, according to a study presented January 29 at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ ADVANCE 2022, the Anesthesiology Business Event in Dallas. A five-phase approach was used, which included:…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on January 26 that it will add four new performance measures to four recently revised Health Care Staffing Services (HCSS) measures. The new measures will be used to report staff turnover rates and track reasons for staff turnover. The new performance measures apply to…

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Editor's Note In a probe led by House Representatives Peter Welch (D-VT) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA), some 200 House members have asked the White House to investigate allegedly inflated costs being charged by nurse staffing agencies, according to the January 26 Becker’s Hospital CFO Report. In the investigation request, the…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from New York University School of Medicine finds several factors associated with increased odds of readmission of patients hospitalized with COVID-19. In this retrospective cohort analysis of 6,191 adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in a New York safety-net hospital system between March 1 and…

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Editor's Note OR Manager’s November/December 2021 issue featured a deep-dive into the term value-based enterprise and how it is revolutionizing delivery of care (read full story here). In a value-based enterprise model, “providers are paid based on patient outcomes,” and outcomes are measured against the cost of care. Value-based enterprise,…

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Editor's Note Incidental COVID-19—when patients are admitted to the hospital for something other than COVID-19 but test positive for the virus during their stay—is a reality for most, if not all, hospitals. However, a Becker’s study finds that the frequency of incidental COVID-19 cases is particularly challenging for hospital staff…

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Editor's Note This study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that Black patients used telemedicine platforms more often than White patients for ambulatory surgical care during Phase 2 of COVID-19. During Phase 1 (March 24 through June 23), there were 347 in-person and 638 virtual…

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Editor's Note On January 19, a federal court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas opposing the federal vaccine mandate. This came just days after the Supreme Court also ruled to uphold the mandate “to promote and protect patient health and safety.” On January 20, CMS issued updated…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on January 19 that beginning January 27, 2022, for applicable deemed program surveys in progress on that day, it will begin surveying to the “Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination” interim final rule published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). As…

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