Editor's Note The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated Class 1 Recalls—the most severe category indicating serious risk of injury or death—for multiple devices over the past few days, including pressure monitoring systems, emergency resuscitators, fluid delivery sets, extracorporeal blood circuits, endoscope accessories, infusion pumps, and glucose/Ketone meters. These…

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Ensuring safe, quality care requires precise alignment among inventory levels, delivery schedules, storage solutions, and every other element of the supply chain. A single missing piece of this puzzle—say, a delayed shipment or a storage issue—can disrupt the entire picture. Making the pieces fit can be difficult for any healthcare…

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Takeaways • Interdepartmental collaboration and standardized communication are essential to quickly identifying and addressing supply chain challenges. • Just-in-time inventory strategies have gained traction since the pandemic. Successful strategies involve leveraging data, rethinking preference card management, and shifting to a demand-planning model. • Resiliency is essential to cope with the…

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Editor’s Note Entities covered by the HIPAA security rule may soon need to adapt to more prescriptive requirements, new compliance mandates, and significantly higher costs, according to a January 24 report from TechTarget. As outlined in a December notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), the proposal by the Department of Health…

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Editor's Note Bain Capital Private Equity put forward a proposal to acquire all remaining shares of Surgery Partners, an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) operator in which Bain Capital already holds a 39% stake, Modern Healthcare January 28 reports. According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the…

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Editor's Note More than 300,000 healthcare positions within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have been exempted from a federal hiring freeze ordered by President Donald Trump on January 20, ensuring continuity in care for veterans. Military.com reported the news January 23. According to the article, acting VA Secretary Todd…

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Editor's Note Escalating administrative hurdles from insurers are heightening tensions between healthcare payers and providers who criticize the measures for threatening patient care, Modern Healthcare reported January 22. According to the article, policies attracting criticism include stringent prior authorization rules, claims denials, and new fees for appeals. For their part,…

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Editor's Note Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are increasingly adopting a new wrong-site surgery prevention toolkit, introduced by the ASC Quality Collaboration (ASCQC) in late 2024, ASC Focus January 17 reports. Designed to improve patient safety, this complimentary resource is packed with materials tailored to address the unique challenges of preventing…

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Editor's Note Growing consolidation and private equity investments in healthcare are driving up costs, reducing access, and raising quality concerns, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to HHS’ January 15 announcement, the report stems from a tri-agency effort by HHS, the…

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Editor's Note Nurse staffing rates in hospitals serving a high percentage of Black patients are worse than in hospitals serving fewer Black patients, a disparity that has significant implications for patient outcomes, according to a study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Published in the journal Nursing Research…

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