Editor's Note This study of healthcare workers (HCWs) in a tertiary New York State hospital finds that the rate of COVID-19 infection in HCWs is lower than what has been reported for the general public in the region. Of 3,046 HCWs, 1,699 had antibody testing, 617 had RT-PCR testing, and…

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Editor's Note The National Institutes of Health (NIH) on August 5 announced the launch of the Medical Imaging and Data Resource Center, which will create new tools using artificial intelligence (AI) and medical imaging to diagnose and personalize therapies for COVID-19 patients. The Center will build a large repository of…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on August 5 announced that it has approved new and revised requirements for hospitals and critical access hospitals certified under the Patient Blood Management program that will go into effect January 1, 2021. The certification requirements have been updated to align with the third edition…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on August 4 released the 2021 proposed payment rule for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs). Among the proposals in the rule: CMS proposes to expand the number of procedures that Medicare would pay for when performed…

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Editor's Note The use of an automated web-based symptom monitoring tool as part of Maine's COVID-19 contact tracing program made the state's contact tracing and monitoring faster and more efficient. The tool was well received, with the majority of monitored contacts (96.4%) agreeing to the automated system. Contacts automatically received…

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Editor's Note The Curial AI test, an artificial intelligence (AI) program developed at the University of Oxford, UK, can identify COVID-19 within 1 hour of a patient arriving at an emergency department (ED), the July 31 Belfast Telegraph reports. The AI test analyzes patient data, such as blood tests and…

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Editor's Note This study, led by researchers from King’s College London, analyzed data on 1,600 patients who reported their symptoms daily into an app. They differentiated the patients into six groups from least to most severe symptoms: Headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever.…

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Editor's Note This study found that whole lung radiomics from non-contrast chest CT exams were better than radiologists’ assessments for predicting outcomes in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. The findings also showed that combining radiomics with clinical variables and lab data were associated with better predictions of ICU admissions and mortality.…

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Editor's Note US News & World Report on July 28 released its 2019-2020 Best Hospitals Honor Roll. The top five are: Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota Cleveland Clinic Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell, New York City, and UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles (tie) Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on July 24 reissued its emergency use authorization (EUA) for LabCorp’s COVID-19 RT-PCR Test to include two new indications for use: Testing for individuals who do not have COVID-19 symptoms or who have no reason to suspect COVID-19 infection. Allowing for pooled…

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