Editor's Note The Biden administration announced on January 30 that it will end the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11, the January 31 APnews reports. The move gives healthcare providers and other stakeholders about 100 days to prepare for the termination. The national and public health emergencies…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 27 announced that it is proposing to ease blood donation restrictions by focusing on behavior rather than gender and sexual identity. Under current rules, the FDA allows donations from gay and bisexual men if they haven’t had sex with another…

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Editor's Note State Boards of Nursing are investigating those who allegedly bought fraudulent nursing degrees and diplomas as part of a widespread scheme to fast-track the process to take the National Council Licensure Examination, the January 27 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. Twenty-five individuals have been charged by the Justice Department…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 27 posted an addition to the Class I recall by LivaNova (TandemLife) of its LifeSPARC System Controller. The addition to the recall provides information about a software update now available to address the previous software malfunction and recall. The System…

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Editor's Note A study done by investigators from Yale, Harvard, and the University of California-San Francisco, published on January 10 in JAMA, found that “many medical devices subject to recall had received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval based, in part, on the products’ similarities to earlier devices,” Healthcare Purchasing…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on January 25 that its affiliate Joint Commission International (JCI) has started a new telehealth certification program. To become certified, organizations must demonstrate a culture of continuous improvement through standardized practices and processes while ensuring coordination, communication, and alignment when providing patient care via…

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Editor's Note This study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, finds no difference in quality of shared decision making in surgical patients having preoperative in-person vs telemedicine visits. Of 387 patients who were scheduled for surgery between May 2021 and June 2022, 301 had in-person visits and 86 had…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum (NQF) on January 23 announced the recipients of the 2022 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards. The Awards recognize major achievements by individuals and organizations to improve patient safety and healthcare quality. This year’s recipients; Made advancements related to…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is hosting a new dashboard—Respiratory Virus Hospitalization Surveillance Network (RESP-NET)—that tracks hospitalization rates for laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, influenza, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) by age, sex, race/ethnicity, state, and season. The information is based on data from a network of acute…

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Editor's Note According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022 ended on a high note as far as healthcare employment trends go, with December reflecting 16,687,700 employed workers—up 54,700 from November—and a rise of 15,700 in hospital jobs. Overall healthcare job growth in 2022 averaged 49,000 jobs each month, compared with…

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