Refreshed Accelerate PI Dashboard Reports available for certified stroke centers
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 5 announced that refreshed Accelerate PI Dashboard Reports are available for primary and comprehensive stroke centers to provide performance measurement data on the quality measures selected for advanced certification. The reports contain data through the first quarter of 2022 and are intended to…
Changes in industry marketing, research payments to physicians, teaching hospitals during COVID-19
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 physiciansย and teaching hospitals and an immediate and sustained decline in payments for marketing. During the study period (2018 to 2021), 705,490…
AHRQ: Differences in hospital stays with OR procedures by race, ethnicity
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…
CDC ends COVID-19 travel advisories by nation
Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will discontinue COVID-19 travel warnings for foreign countries, the October 3 New York Times reports. The CDC instead will issue travel health notices when there are COVID-19 variants of concern or other related factors that would affect travel for certain…
Study: Routine use of anesthesia personnel in cataract surgery questioned
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…
The Joint Commission joins Sync for Social Needs coalition
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 4 announced that it has joined the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Healthโs Sync for Social Needs coalition, committing to a role to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases in the US by 2030. The coalition brings together leading healthcare organizations…
NAM launches healthcare workforce well-being plan
Editor's Note The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience has finalized its National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being, the October 3 AHAToday reports. The plan, which builds on 6 years of work among 200 participants, including the American Hospital Association (AHA), identifies goals and…
Tips to commemorate National Healthcare Supply Chain Week
Editor's Note This weekโOctober 2 to 8โis National Healthcare Supply Chain week (or SC Week). The Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM), a member of the American Hospital Association and a membership group for healthcare supply chain professionals, shared tips and best practices for how to recognize and…
Hospital occupancy, ED boarding during COVID-19
Editor's Note This study from Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, finds that hospital occupancy greater than 85% was linked to increased emergency department (ED) boarding beyond the 4-hour standard, during the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020 through December 2021), and ED boarding increased even when hospital occupancy did…
FDA: Class I recall of LivaNovaโs LifeSPARC System
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 30 identified the recall by LivaNova (TandemLife) of its LifeSPARC System, Model LS-1000, as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of the risk of unintentional extended pump stop during Controller Critical Failure mode, caused by a…