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March 2025
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Lay groundwork for strong start to new year with quick win in OR efficiency

The new year is just around the corner, and it will bring new challenges for OR leaders as well as fresh opportunities to improve clinical, financial, and operational performance. The typical surgery department is a “target-rich environment”: low utilization, long turnover times, inefficient charge capture, poor documentation, high supply costs,…

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By: Michael Besedick, MS and Kartik Bhatt, MPH
November 17, 2021
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Cleveland Clinic mandates COVID-19 vaccinations for US employees

Editor's Note Cleveland Clinic, on November 12, announced that it is requiring all US employees and those who provide services with Cleveland Clinic to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by January 4, 2022. In accordance with federal mandates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, employees who are not fully…

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By: Judy Mathias
November 15, 2021
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Preventability of readmissions, ED visits after admission for COVID-19

Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, find that most readmissions and emergency department (ED) visits (ie, revisits) of COVID-19 patients following initial admission were not preventable. Of 576 COVID-19 hospitalizations, 76 resulted in a 30-day revisit (13.2%)—21 ED visits…

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By: Judy Mathias
November 11, 2021
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ACS: Hospitals sustained huge financial losses during COVID-19 because of postponed elective surgery

Editor's Note Two studies presented at the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2021 find that postponement of elective surgical procedures from March to May 2020 because of COVID-19 disrupted surgical care at US hospitals and took away a large portion of hospitals’ total income. Results of one study…

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By: Judy Mathias
November 8, 2021
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Healthcare employment up in October

Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up in October to a seasonally adjusted 16,032,600 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on November 5. That’s up 37, 200 since September. Hospital employment also rose by 1,100 jobs. The overall unemployment rate fell to 4.6 %.

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By: Judy Mathias
November 8, 2021
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CMS releases final Medicare payment rule for ASCs, HOPDs

Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), on November 2, released its 2022 final payment rule for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs). The final rule increases Medicare prospective payment system rates by a net 2.0%—a combination of a 2.7% inflation update based on…

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By: Judy Mathias
November 3, 2021
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CMS penalizes nearly half of all hospitals for high readmission rates

Editor's Note In FY 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will penalize 2,499 (47%) hospitals for excessive patient readmissions, the October 28 Kaiser Health News reports. In its 10th year of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, CMS will cut payments to the penalized hospitals by as much…

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By: Judy Mathias
November 1, 2021
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Healthcare employment falls in September

Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was down in September to a seasonally adjusted 15,968,400 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on October 8. That’s down 17, 500 since August. Hospital employment also fell by 8,100 jobs. The overall unemployment rate fell to 4.8 %.

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By: Judy Mathias
October 11, 2021
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ECRI announces winners of annual supply chain award

Editor's Note ECRI, on October 6, announced the winners of its tenth annual Healthcare Supply Chain Achievement Award. This year, ECRI recognizes 12 US healthcare systems for achieving excellence in overall spend management and adopting best practice solutions into their supply chain process. The winners are: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles…

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By: Judy Mathias
October 7, 2021
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Effect of interruptions in Medicare patient treatment during COVID-19 on physicians, practices

Editor's Note This study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that practice interruptions in the treatment of Medicare patients spiked in April 2020, and interruption-without-return rates were larger for older physicians. In this analysis of 547,849 physicians billing Medicare: Practice…

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By: Judy Mathias
September 21, 2021
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