Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 24 announced that it will be offering an Advanced Certification for Spine Surgery (ACSS) in collaboration with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). The new program will be available in July to hospitals, critical access hospitals, and ambulatory surgery centers that perform…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on February 18, issued a statement saying there is no epidemiological evidence out of more than 100 million cases globally that COVID-19 can be transmitted through food or food…

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Editor's Note This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study finds a huge drop in routine vaccinations in Medicare beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparing data from January to July 2019 and January to July 2020, declines of 70% to 89% in routine vaccinations were seen in mid-April 2020.…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on February 17, announced that it had updated its information on offsite (ie, virtual) surveys and reviews. In response to COVID-19, the Joint Commission stopped most onsite surveys and reviews from March 16 to May 31, 2020, and they developed processes for offsite events. As…

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Editor's Note A Foley & Lardner survey finds that state telehealth reimbursement laws have significantly increased during the COVID-10 pandemic, but more can be done to address telehealth adoption barriers, the February 15 Revcycle Intelligence reports. More than 43 states and Washington, DC, have some telehealth statute for commercial payers,…

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Burnout among healthcare workers was on the rise long before 2020, but it has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many healthcare organizations have stepped up efforts to support their staffs. “Maybe 20% of burnout is something an individual can control, but the other 80% is the work…

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The Joint Commission stopped doing most onsite surveys and reviews from March 16 to May 31, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, they developed processes for conducting offsite or virtual events, and as of mid-December, more than 1,200 offsite surveys and reviews had been conducted across…

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Implants are foreign bodies, and they increase the risk of a surgical site infection. Processing implants requires strict adherence to the required steps because implants have sustained contact with sterile tissue. An implant is defined as a device that is placed into a surgically or naturally formed cavity of the…

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Editor's Note Since emergency use authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) has received reports of allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. From December 14, 2020, through January 18, 2021, 9,943,247 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on February 12 updated its guidelines for K-12 school reopenings. The update provides an operational strategy for safe delivery of in-person instruction through the integration of mitigation and control components as well as public health efforts. Included are the following:…

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