Editor's Note A report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reforms finds more than 800 rural hospitals—40% of rural hospitals in the US—are either at immediate or high risk of closure. The more than 300 rural hospitals at high risk of closure have low financial reserves or high…

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Editor's Note Owners of hospitals in Chicago and Los Angeles plan to close their facilities in the first half of 2021, the January 14 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles informed its workers on December 31, 2020, that the hospital would be suspending all patient care…

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Resiliency, a term that has cropped up repeatedly during the COVID-19 pandemic, is often considered a key defense against burnout. But it is also important in the context of the healthcare supply chain, says Ed Hisscock, senior vice president of supply chain management at Trinity Health, a 22-state healthcare system…

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The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines starting in December 2020 was the one bright spot in an otherwise tragic year with a rapidly rising death toll currently over 385,000. Distribution of the 20 million doses promised by year end was thwarted by problems such as lack of coordination and lack of…

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The financial impact of COVID-19 on healthcare providers has been considerable. With experts predicting that half of all US hospitals would be operating in the red by the end of 2020, healthcare leaders have had to seek multiple ways to cut costs. The expansion of single-use medical device (SUD) reprocessing…

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The 2021 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS)/ASC Final Payment Rule was released on December 1, 2020, and became effective as of January 1, 2021. Gina Throneberry, MBA, RN, CASC, CNOR, director of education and clinical affairs, Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA), summarized the status of Medicare regulations and…

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Editor's Note This study from the Netherlands found that the added value of using chest CT in addition to RT-PCR to screen patients for COVID-19 before surgery was limited. Of 2,093 preoperative patients without COVID-19 symptoms analyzed, 1,224 were screened by CT and RT-PCR and 869 by chest CT only.…

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Demand for interim executive leadership services in 2018 increased by 113%, according to a 2019 Nurse Leader article. “We are experiencing a gap for qualified and trained nursing leaders at all levels, but especially the chief nursing officer level,” says Ila Minnick, MS, BSN, RN, president, Interim Leadership Associates. “Because…

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A November 2020 survey from National Nurses United, the largest union of RNs in the US, rang some alarm bells about the preparedness of healthcare facilities bracing for influenza season along with COVID-19 case surges. Among the more than 15,000 nurses surveyed by the union, 30% named staffing shortages as…

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The latest surge of COVID-19 cases has put many hospitals in a precarious position, with shortages of staff, space, and supplies. Lessons learned earlier in the pandemic cannot necessarily shore up systems that have been overwhelmed with patients. Throughout most of 2020, some patients postponed medical or surgical care. When…

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