The 2021 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS)/ASC Final Payment Rule was released on December 1, 2020, and became effective as of January 1, 2021. Gina Throneberry, MBA, RN, CASC, CNOR, director of education and clinical affairs, Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA), summarized the status of Medicare regulations and…

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Editor's Note Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert R. Redfield, MD, on January 12, signed an order to expand the requirement for a negative COVID-19 test to all airline passengers entering the US. The order, which will become effective January 26, requires that: Airline passengers get a…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that COVID-19 cases in children, adolescents, and young adults increased during the review period (March 1-December 12), with spikes in early summer, followed by a decline, and then a steep increase from October through…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on January 13, announced that it had approved four new elements of performance (EPs) for office-based surgery practices that prescribe medication. The EPs for Medication Management Standard MM.04.01.01, which will become effective July 1, address the following: Having a written policy that identifies specific medication…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on January 8 updated its guidance to clarify that overlapping may occur in phases of vaccinating priority groups, Reuters reports. The CDC reiterated that priority recipients of the COVID-19 vaccines are still healthcare workers, nursing home residents, those aged 75…

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Editor's Note Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on January 8 announced the renewal of the COVID-19 national public health emergency declaration, the American Hospital Association reports. The renewal is effective January 21 and will last 90 days. The declaration provides hospitals, health systems, and healthcare workers…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on January 6, 2020, issued an update on offsite surveys and reviews, noting that it had stopped most onsite surveys and reviews from March 16 to May 31, 2020. During that time they developed processes for conducting offsite or virtual events. As of mid-December, more…

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Editor's Note From December 14 to December 23, 2020, monitoring by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System found 4,393 (0.2%) adverse events after administration of 1,893,360 first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Of these adverse events, 21 were determined to be cases…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on January 6, 2021, reported on an online questionnaire sent to organizations in September 2020 to learn about their challenges and needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 735 respondents, representing a variety of healthcare settings, reported: a medium to high impact on their…

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Editor’s Note As of January 5, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the number of distributed COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna is 17,020,575 doses, with 4,836,469 already administered.

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