Editor's Note In this study from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, researchers find that Black Medicare patients were less likely to receive surgical consultations than White Medicare patients after being admitted from the emergency department (ED) with an emergency general surgery condition. Of 1,686,940 Medicare patients included in the analysis,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on October 12 that several revisions that have been made to the Environment of Care (EC) and Life Safety (LS) chapters for certain accreditation programs, including Hospital, Critical Access Hospital, Ambulatory Health Care, and Office-Based Surgery, will take effect January 1, 2023. The changes…

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Editor's Note On October 12, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines, Bivalent, to authorize their use as a single booster dose in younger groups, Health Purchasing News October 12 reports. The Moderna vaccine is now authorized for…

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Editor's Note This national survey study led by researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, and Middlesex Community College, Middletown, Connecticut, finds that nearly half of US adults surveyed reported misrepresentation of and nonadherence to COVID-19 public health measures. Among the survey findings: Of 1,733…

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Editor's Note In response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) relaxation of recommendations for universal healthcare personnel masking, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) on October 3 strongly urged its 15,000 members to continue masking in patient care areas. Requiring masks for anyone…

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Editor's Note Burnout in the healthcare workforce is a significant challenge hospitals and healthcare systems face, and a September 27 webinar hosted by US News and World Report tackled the many efforts hospital leaders are undertaking to address it. Among the various reasons cited as contributing to the problem—including rising…

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Editor's Note The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on October 3 amended the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act declaration for smallpox medical countermeasures to expand the categories of providers authorized to administer vaccines and therapeutics against smallpox, monkeypox, and other orthopoxviruses during the declared emergency, Healthcare…

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Editor's Note The Department of Labor (DOL) on October 3 announced an $80 million funding opportunity through its Nursing Expansion Grant Program to support nursing education programs designed to expand the pipeline of nursing professionals while advancing equity and diversity. The grants will support organizations that use worker-centered strategies to…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 5 announced that refreshed Accelerate PI Dashboard Reports are available for primary and comprehensive stroke centers to provide performance measurement data on the quality measures selected for advanced certification. The reports contain data through the first quarter of 2022 and are intended to…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will discontinue COVID-19 travel warnings for foreign countries, the October 3 New York Times reports. The CDC instead will issue travel health notices when there are COVID-19 variants of concern or other related factors that would affect travel for certain…

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