Editor's Note Didn’t make plans for Certified Nurses Day today? No worries—the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACCN) has some simple ideas to celebrate the specialists in your organization (and we at OR Manager have an idea of our own). Created in 2008 by the American Nurses Association (ANA)…

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Editor's Note Nearly 5,000 healthcare workers at Providence Health in Oregon secured substantial wage increases and improved staffing plans, ending a historic six-week strike that began January 10, according to a February 25 article in MedPage Today. According to the article, the strike involved eight RN bargaining units and marked…

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Editor’s Note Pregnancy complications—including life-threatening sepsis—surged in Texas after the state banned abortion in 2021, according to a ProPublica analysis of seven years’ worth of state hospital data. In a February 20 report, the outlet details how sepsis rates for women hospitalized after second-trimester pregnancy loss rose by more than…

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Editor's Note Montana legislators are moving to restrict health insurers’ use of prior authorization as frustration over the practice mounts nationwide, KFF News reported February 13. The outlet reports that two Democratic and Republican lawmakers have introduced or are drafting bills for the 2025 Montana Legislature to limit these insurer-mandated…

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Editor's Note Recent legislative efforts in Florida and Mississippi aim to expand the authority of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) with measures that would remove supervisory requirements and allow independent practice for certain nurse practitioners. The efforts underscore an ongoing, nationwide debate over the role of APRNs in addressing provider…

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Editor's Note A January 31 statement from the American Medical Association (AMA) announces the organization’s support for bipartisan legislation aiming to reverse steep Medicare reimbursement reductions threatening physician practices and patient care access. Introduced by a coalition of 10 House members, the "Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act" would…

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Editor’s Note Despite being the largest healthcare workforce, nurses are cited in just 4% of health news stories, a statistic unchanged since 1997, according to researchers writing in the January issue of the Journal of Nursing Administration. However, a new initiative aims to change the equation. Titled Nurses’ Voices in…

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Editor's Note Thousands of RNs nationwide plan to rally in support of safer staff and patients today, January 16, amid widespread introduction of technologies driven by artificial intelligence (AI), according to National Nurses United (NNU). NNU reported on the plans January 14, noting that more than 100,000 members of the…

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“Surgeons are the only people trained to provide surgery—life-saving care," says Carrie Zlatos, chief of legislative and political affairs at the American College of Surgeons (ACS). "They are an essential element of a community-based healthcare system. Regardless of where you live, everyone should have access to full quality surgical care.”…

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Editor's Note Certain medical bills reclassifying minor procedures as “surgery” are driving up costs and causing confusion among patients, KFF Health News December 13 reports. Cases such as a $414 charge for a splinter removal with tweezers and a $469 charge for freezing a skin tag highlight how CPT codes…

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