Healthcare costs in the US have increased exponentially in recent years. Surgical procedures are especially costly. Cost control without sacrificing high quality care is the ultimate goal for many surgical practices and payers. Alternative practices and payment models have been explored to meet this goal. Episode-based payments, more commonly known…

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Editor's Note This study from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds a severe decline in surgical procedure volumes across specialties during the peak of COVID-19, and after the peak and vaccine release periods, the overall volume did not fully recover. Of 129,956 surgical procedures analyzed during four…

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Editor's Note The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) on August 11 announced the publication of its first set of safe practice guidelines to support perioperative medication safety in hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and other procedural locations. The new guidelines: Address best practices related to labeling and storage of perioperative…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, finds that more than half of adults with recent Omicron infection analyzed were unaware of their infectious status. Of 210 adult employees or patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with serological evidence of recent Omicron variant infection: 92…

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Editor's Note Some 80% of healthcare workers (HCWs) at Sonoma Valley Hospital, Sonoma, California, exposed to COVID-19  or showing symptoms, tested positive the last 2 weeks of  July, the August 15 Sonoma Index-Tribune reports. A total of 97% of HCWs are fully vaccinated, and the remaining 3% have valid exemptions.…

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Editor's Note This study from Switzerland finds that COVID-19 positivity in healthcare workers (HCWs) was associated with cumulative patient exposure, which could be modulated with the use of respirator masks. Of 2,919 HCWs included in the study, 749 were infected with COVID-19. Positivity was 13% in HCWs without patient exposure.…

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Editor's Note Seven schools and hospitals have added nursing programs and partnerships to help tackle the US nursing shortage, the August 10 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. LSU Health New Orleans’ School of Nursing will offer three accelerated courses, beginning in January 2023. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, is constructing a…

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Editor's Note This retrospective cohort study led by researchers at Ascension Health, St Louis, finds that COVID-19 infection is a risk factor for adverse peripartum maternal outcomes. Researchers evaluated the association of COVID-19 with severe maternal morbidities in patients delivering during four pandemic periods characterized by predominant variants—March-December 2020 (wild…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 11 updated its guidelines for COVID-19. The new recommendations focus on helping people better understand their risks, how to protect themselves and others, what actions to take if exposed, and what actions to take if they test positive…

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Editor's Note Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, have developed a simple new paper test that can measure the level of neutralizing antibodies in a blood sample. Using the same type of lateral flow technology that rapid antigen tests use, the new test is designed so that different…

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