Editor's Note This study led by Marty Makary, MD, MPH, and Dorry Segev, MD, PhD, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, finds natural immunity in unvaccinated healthy US adults up to 20 months after testing positive for COVID-19. Of 1,580 study participants, antibodies were detected in: 99% of…
Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up in January to a seasonally adjusted 16,112,100 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on February 4. Thatโs up 18,000 since December. Hospital employment was up by 3,400 jobs. The overall unemployment rate for January was 4.0%, for a total…
Editor's Note On February 7, Medtronic announced that it had issued a voluntary recall of its 6Fr TurboHawk Plus Directional Atherectomy System because of the risk of tip damage caused by guidewire prolapse. To date, there have been no reports of tip damage and no reports of injuries or deaths…
Editor's Note This analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the incidence of COVID-19 and hospitalization of COVID-19 patients by vaccination status indicates that vaccination protects against severe COVID-19. Among 422,966 COVID-19 patients in Los Angeles County from November 7, 2021, to January 8, 2022, 141,928…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on February 2, announced that it has made several changes to its elements of performance to reflect Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulatory language more closely. The revisions, which will take effect on July 1, 2022, are applicable to hospitals and critical access hospitals…
Editor's Note According to the February 2 Beckerโs ASC Review, two ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) recently filed lawsuits against insurance payers over reimbursement, or lack thereof, for spinal procedures. Surgery Center of Viera, based in Melbourne, Florida, filed its lawsuit January 20 against Cigna and consulting services Strategic Enterprise Solutions…
Editor's Note This multicenter study by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that COVID-19 patients have a significantly high risk for postoperative complications, particularly elderly males. Of 1,581 patients analyzed, more than half were males over 50 years of age, and most procedures (1,261,…
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on January 26 announced that 764 hospitals will face payment cuts in FY 2022 under its Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program, the January 31 Advisory Board reports. Hawaii and Idaho were the only states whose hospitals did not receive penalties.…
Editor's Note Workplace violence against healthcare workers (HCWs) is a sensitive, important issue that has been more prevalent in recent years given the high-stakes of the COVID-19 pandemic. HCWs have been making headlines for fighting against both the pandemic and the rising tensions from a strung out populate and overwhelmed…
Editor's Note This study by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that racial and ethnic minorities have been more hesitant or unwilling to be vaccinated for COVID-19, compared to Whites. Of study participants in the US (87,388) and UK (1,254,294): Vaccine hesitancy was greater…