Lessons of Pennsylvania’s $8.1 billion COVID loss apply nationwide
Editor's Note: Pennsylvania hospitals and health systems lost a total of $8.1 billion to COVID-19 between January 2020 and December 2022, HealthLeaders reported on January 18. In addition to illuminating the new data from The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council and The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, the…
AI screening identifies patients’ risky preoperative alcohol use
Editor's Note: A recent study suggests artificial intelligence (AI) can be valuable for identifying patients who consumed risky amounts of of alcohol prior to surgery. Findings appeared in the journal Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research on January 8. For the study, researchers extracted 3 years of text-based clinical records from…
Nurses named most trusted profession for 22nd year in a row
Editor's Note: An annual Gallup poll continues to rank nursing as the most trusted profession in the United States. However, the number of US adults who believe nurses are honest and highly ethical has declined more than 10 percent from its 2020 peak. Released January 22, Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and…
LiveData to showcase surgical capacity optimization at OR Business Management Conference
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts— January 24, 2024—LiveData, a surgical capacity optimization solution company, today announced that it will demonstrate LiveData PeriOp PlannerTM, its innovative approach to optimizing OR utilization, at the annual OR Business Management Conference, being held February 6-8, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. LiveData will show how its technology helps hospitals grow…
CMS announces new actions to support hospitals under EMTALA
Editor's Note The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced a new initiative to ensure public access to emergency healthcare and assist hospitals in fulfilling obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a CMS January…
Surgeons design implant coating to combat infections
Editor's Note: A point-of-care, antimicrobial coating for orthopedic implants could soon make implant-associated infections a problem of the past, UCLA Health reported on January 3. Developed by two UCLA surgeons, the coating is designed to kill or slow the spread of micro-organisms in order to prevent post-surgical infections. According to…
Burnout-battling physicians often work on vacation
Editor's Note: Lack of quality vacation time explains part of the reason why so many physicians are experiencing burnout, according to a study published January 12 in Jama Network Open. Specifically, the study found that 7 out of 10 participating US physicians did at least some work on a typical…
Rural US hospitals experiencing labor, delivery crisis
Editor's Note: Rural communities are at serious risk due to hospitals’ increasing inability to offer labor and delivery services, according to a new report from the Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform. Highlights include: More than half (55%) of rural hospitals in the U.S. do not offer labor and…
CMS reforms prior authorization to improve care, streamline physician process
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has implemented a final rule reforming the prior authorization process, with the aim to reduce delays in patient care and boost electronic efficiency for physicians, the American Medical Association (AMA) News Wire reported January 23. The Department of Health and…
FDA safety alert targets shoulder implant packaging
Editor's Note: Equinoxe Shoulder System joint replacement devices manufactured by Exactech between 2004 and 2021 are at risk of premature wearing or failure due to defective packaging, according to a January 16 safety alert from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The bags used to package the devices were…