Editor's Note In this study, a predictive model that can help identify patients at higher odds for not requiring a prolonged hospital length of stay (LOS) after total hip arthroplasty was developed and validated and a point-based calculator was designed. The calculator included nine variables: age, opioid use, metabolic equivalents…

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Editor's Note Retooling paper-based measures to electronic format for reporting performance measures can help reduce hospitals’ reporting burden. However, in this study by Joint Commission and State University of New York researchers, a simplified risk model using electronic health record (EHR) elements could not capture most risk factors in the…

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Editor's Note A new scoring system reveals a strong agreement between patient-reported and physician-reported outcomes after surgery, the Mayo Clinic reports. The study enrolled 100 patients who had elbow or shoulder surgery. The average time between surgery and follow-up was 31 months. In the categorical ratings, patients and physicians agreed…

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Editor's Note The ECRI Institute on June 20 announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) had awarded it with the Network of Quality Improvement and Innovation Contractors (NQIIC) designation. With this designation and partnering with other quality improvement contractors under the new CMS Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quanity (IDIQ)…

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Editor's Note Risk-adjusted surgical outcomes vary widely across hospitals within networks that are on the Honor Roll of the US News & World Report, this study finds. In this analysis of 87 hospitals and 143,174 patients, outcomes were not consistently better at Honor Roll hospitals compared with network affiliates. For…

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As part of a special series on artificial intelligence (AI), OR Manager is taking a deep dive into the many facets of this new technology and its impact on patient care. Part 1 and Part 2 of the introduction to AI (May 2019 and June 2019) defined types of AI…

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“What we have right now, quite frankly, in healthcare are islands—visible islands of excellence in a sea of invisible failures, with risk lurking just below the waterline. We need to widen those islands of excellence. We need to connect these islands with more dry land. We need to address these…

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As part of a special series on artificial intelligence (AI), OR Manager is taking a deep dive into the many facets of this new technology and its impact on patient care. Part 1 of this introduction to the series (OR Manager, May 2019, 1, 7-11) defined several different types of…

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Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, located in Lake Forest, Illinois, has taken a giant leap in curtailing late starts in the OR. In December 2016, the facility’s on-time start percentage was only 37%. Perioperative team members dug in their heels and, by August 2017, increased their on-time starts to 77%.…

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Editor's Note In patients without HCV infection who received a heart or lung transplant from HCV-infected donors, treatment with a 4-week antiviral regimen prevented establishment of HCV infection, this study finds. Of 44 patients enrolled in the study, 36 received lung transplants and 8 received heart transplants. All of the…

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