Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on August 10, identified the recall by Datascope/Maquet/Getinge of its Cardiosave Hybrid and Rescue Intra-aortic Balloon Pumps (IABPs) as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because the pumps may shut down unexpectedly due to electrical failures in the Power…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, examines the association between intraoperative opioid administration and postoperative pain and opioid use. A total of 61, 249 surgical patients were included in the analysis. The researchers found that increased intraoperative: fentanyl and…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 9, announced that it is revising a performance measure for the advanced Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement (THKR) Certification Program—THKR-5: Postoperative Functional/Health Status Assessment—to align with a similar Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) measure. The recently adopted CMS performance measure—Hospital-Level,…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examines the use of a machine learning (ML) model to predict the suitability for having a surgical procedure performed at an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) vs a hospital-based outpatient department (HOPD). To augment a labor intensive manual process in…

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Editor's Note The American Hospital Association (AHA), on August 9, announced that COVID-19 HIPAA rules for telehealth would expire at 11:59 pm. The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) implemented a HIPAA policy for telehealth during the COVID-19 public health emergency, which provided enforcement discretion…

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Editor's Note This study, led by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examines opportunities to improve inequitable postoperative outcomes by evaluating unmet social health needs by race, ethnicity, and insurance type. Outcomes included poor health status (self-reported), socioeconomic status (income, education, employment), and unmet social health needs (food,…

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Editor's Note The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), on August 1, released new interactive tools and resources to help collect patient data in advance of mandatory reporting periods. Orthopedic care teams are urged to take note because patient-reported outcome measures (eg, pain, physical mobility, emotional well-being, and experience of…

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Editor's Note This study from researchers at Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates and SpineFirst, Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina, examines the cost-utility of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) performed in an ASC vs an inpatient hospital setting at 1-year follow-up.  A total of 6,504 patients having 1-to 2-level ACDF…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examines the association between hospital market competition and outcomes after high-risk surgical procedures. A total of 2,248,438 Medicare beneficiaries who had 1 of 10 high-risk surgical procedures between 2015 and 2018 were included in the analysis. Compared with low-competition…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at Good Samaritan Medical Center, Brockton, Massachusetts, and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, examines the clinical outcomes and costs of robotic and open ventral hernia repairs. A total of 675 open and 609 robotic ventral hernia repairs were included in the analysis.…

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