Editor's Note In this study, researchers from the University of Washington, Seattle, and University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, find that turnover among nearly all segments of the healthcare workforce has not yet fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, with turnover rates among long-term care workers and physicians worsening over time. Of…
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare industry could fill an entire academic curriculum at this point, let alone a single article. But one potential silver lining among the storms of bad news is the increasing migration of elective procedures from hospitals to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Although…
Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are ramping up cardiovascular and peripheral vascular service lines, as Medicare offers payment for a growing number of cardiac procedures and accrediting bodies offer support for this methodology. In 2021, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reported that the number of ASCs billing Medicare for cardiology procedures…
Editor's Note The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) announced on March 8 that it had joined with 14 leading medical specialty organizations to establish seven guiding principles to address the treatment of acute perioperative pain in complex surgical patients. The new principles were developed during a second landmark pain summit…
Editor's Note Surgical backlog is still a challenge that many ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are currently working through. According to Becker’s ASC Review March 3, this backlog “could take years for some centers to recover from depending on the specialty and site of care” and has led some ASCs to…
Editor's Note The American College of Rheumatology and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, on February 28, released a summary of their updated guideline for the “Perioperative Management of Antirheumatic Medication in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases Undergoing Elective Total Hip or Total Knee Arthroplasty.” The guideline, which is…
Editor's Note In addition to education required to maintain licensure and certifications, each practitioner privileged through the medical staff process is expected to participate in hospital-sponsored continuing education, The Joint Commission says in a February 16 answer to a frequently asked question (FAQ) on accreditation requirements. The education is based…
Editor's Note This study by UCLA researchers finds patient experiences with telehealth physician appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic were as positive as traditional face-to-face visits and phone visits, or even more so. The researchers surveyed 58,509 adult patients on their 13,928 primary care and 44,581 specialty physician visits at 197…
As representatives of a global healthcare solutions company, we talk and listen to clinicians at hospitals around the country. One of the issues that continually surfaces is that physician preference cards (PPCs) are a challenge at their hospitals. We hear many frustrations related to supply chain documentation. In the end, it all comes…
The growth of value-based healthcare models is changing the way physicians and hospitals provide care. In value-based models, providers are paid based on patient outcomes. The “value” is derived from measuring health outcomes against the cost of delivering the outcomes. This balancing act has now become more achievable with new…