Editor's Note Zimmer Biomet and Apple Inc have begun a multiyear study that will allow surgeons to use Apple Watches to monitor activities, including heart rate, steps taken, and standing hours of up to 100,000 patients before and after hip and knee replacement surgery, the October 15 Reuters reports. Providers…

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Editor's Note Rebecca Wiseman, PhD, RN, associate professor and chair of the University of Maryland School of Nursing at the Universities at Shady Grove, has been awarded a grant to establish the Maryland Nursing Workforce Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), according to an October 8 news release.…

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Editor's Note Despite ethical and legal obligations to protect patient privacy and efforts to establish best practices for healthcare information security, breach rates have increased since 2010, this study finds. Of 2,149 breaches that involved 176.4 million records, the most common entities breached were healthcare providers, with 1,503 breaches that…

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Editor's Note Appropriate nursing staff mix is important for quality care,  and understanding how staffing skill mix affects outcomes allows policymakers and clinicians to make good staffing decisions, finds this study. Researchers from the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario analyzed 626 studies on the effectiveness of RNs on clinical, patient,…

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Editor's Note A new study by consultancy firm Navigant found that academic medical centers are trailing community hospitals across cost and quality measures. Among the findings: Cost per case was 5.8% higher at medical centers, equating to $3.1 million added annual operating expense per center. Cost per case disparity between high…

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Editor's Note New data released in the Protenus Breach Barometer shows  more than 3.14 million patient records were compromised in 142 breach incidents reported to Health and Human Services or the media from April to June 2018, the August 8 Healthcare Informatics reports. This number is up from 1.13 million…

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Editor's Note Part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) final Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System rule for FY 2019, issued August 2, was a requirement that hospitals post the prices they charge for surgeries and other medical procedures online. The…

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Editor's Note A recent Reaction Data survey of 254 physicians found that 21% believed electronic health records (EHRs) were the biggest determinant in burnout, followed by payers/preauthorization, regulatory compliance, and internal bureaucracy, the July 31 Healthcare Informatics reports. All factors had a common theme of consuming time and preventing physicians…

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Editor's Note In a survey of more than 2,000 US adults, The Harris Poll on behalf of healthcare marketing firm Scout found that nearly half are extremely or very concerned about the security of their healthcare data, the July 30 Health IT Security reports. The survey also found that 47%…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on July 25 that its Direct Data Submission (DDS) platform is now available for submission of CY 2018 electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) data and future submissions. For CY 2018, there are now two eCQM data submission methods for accredited hospitals with ORYX eCQM…

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