Study: Small percentage of Black individuals are becoming surgeons
Editor's Note A study on the trend of general surgery residency application, matriculation, and graduation for Black trainees over a 13-year period, titled โExamination of Intersectionality and the Pipeline for Black Academic Surgeonsโ and published by JAMA Surgery on February 9, found that few Black individuals apply to surgery programs…
CMS alert: Eligible individuals can get second COVID-19 booster at no cost
Editor's Note On April 6, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in a news alert that it will pay for a second COVID-19 booster of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines without cost sharing for all eligible individuals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)…
Attacks on healthcare in the Ukraine war
Editor's Note As of March 31, there have been 82 attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in Ukraine that have resulted in 72 deaths and 43 injuries, and most attacks involved the use of heavy weapons against healthcare facilities, personnel, patients, and medical supplies, according to this JAMA Viewpoint article,…
Proteins in saliva aid in detecting COVID-19, predicting severe illness
Editor's Note Researchers from the University of Utah Health, who have identified a family of proteins that are significantly elevated in the saliva of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, presented their findings at American Physiological Society annual meeting, held during the Experimental Biology 2022 meeting in Philadelphia April 4. The proteins, named…
CMS issues warnings on price transparency to โaboutโ 345 hospitals
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) told Beckerโs that as of March 2022, it has issued โโabout 345โ warning notices to hospitals noncompliant with its price transparency regulations,โ Beckerโs Hospital CFO Report April 4 reports. CMSโ price transparency rule went into effect on January 1, 2021;…
FDA: Reprocessing changes for certain Karl Storz urological endoscopes
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 4 issued a letter to healthcare providers and users saying the agency is aware that current reprocessing instructions for certain urological endoscopes manufactured by Karl Storz are inadequate and are being updated by the company. In the letter, the FDA…
Moral injury similar between combat veterans and COVID-19 HCWs
Editor's Note This collaborative study by researchers at Duke University, Vanderbilt University, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, finds that COVID-19 healthcare workers (HCWs) experienced high rates of moral injury, comparable to rates among military veterans. Moral injuries are described as actions that conflict with values and beliefs, causing psychological…
Bacterial contamination of HCWs smartphones before, during COVID-19
Editor's Note This German study finds that bacterial contamination of healthcare workersโ (HCWsโ) smartphones can be a source of cross-contamination, and cleaning intensity increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of 295 HCWs (99 in 2012 and 196 in 2021) from 26 wards comprising 19 different specialties included in the analysis, bacterial…
ACS updates efforts to help Ukraine
Editor's Note In a March 28 update, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) says it is following the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine through Operation Giving Back, and that no current role or mechanism exists for safe travel to help in person at this time. ACS notes that healthcare facilities…
Healthcare employment up in March
Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up in March to a seasonally adjusted 16,192,400 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on April 1. Thatโs up 8,300 since February. Hospital employment also was up by 5,100 jobs. The overall unemployment rate for March was 3.6%, for a…