Healthcare workers are at risk for bloodborne pathogen exposures in areas ranging from the clinic to the OR—both inpatient and outpatient settings. Such exposures not only cause anxiety, they cost an estimated $3,000 to $5,000 per exposure for things such as baseline and follow-up laboratory testing, treatment of exposed personnel,…

Read More

Editor's Note This study finds that the amount of opioids prescribed for patients after cardiothoracic surgery has a direct relationship with the risk for opioid dependence and persistent opioid use several months after surgery. Of nearly 25,000 opioid-naïve Medicare patients analyzed, 15.7% of patients who had lung surgery and 12.5%…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on August 21 posted a reminder for accredited hospitals with electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) requirements that they must submit CY 2019 eCQM data via the Direct Data Submission (DDS) Platform. The deadline to onboard to the DDS Platform is December 20, 2019, and the…

Read More

Editor's Note Unclear policies and urgent competing responsibilities in the OR create stress, suggesting that the environment is the primary contributor to disruptive behavior by the surgeon, this study finds. Of 314 reports of disruptive behavior from surgical, medical, and other specialties, which included both the reporter account and involved…

Read More

Editor's Note A new surgical risk/benefit calculator that can predict a bariatric/metabolic patient’s possibility of postoperative remission at 1 year for five weight-related comorbidities will soon be released by the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP), the American College of Surgeons (ACS) announced on August 20.…

Read More

Editor's Note The move to a new hospital with all single-patient rooms was associated with an immediate and durable reduction in the rates of nosocomial vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization as well as VRE infections, but not in  the rates of nosocomial Clostridioides difficile (CDI) or…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on August 19 announced that it plans to update the quality measurement methodology of the Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings in 2021. The Star Ratings are located on CMS’ Hospital Compare website. While the new methodology is being finalized, CMS…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study, experts graded the four major publicly reported hospital quality rating systems on their strengths and weaknesses−most received a C and the highest was a B. The grades were: US News & World Report−B Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Star Ratings−C Leapfrog−C- Healthgrades−D+. The researchers found that…

Read More

Editor's Note The University of Michigan’s health system has 34 artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning research projects underway, 28 of which have principal investigators, the August 12 Health Data Management reports. Projects include analyzing electronic health records (EHRs), ECG monitor data, and analytics to predict acute hemodynamic instability and…

Read More

Editor's Note Patients who had complex surgical procedures for cancer at community hospitals that were affiliated with top-ranked cancer hospitals were less likely to die within 90 days after surgery than patients treated at nonaffiliated hospitals, this study finds. Data for more than 14,000 Medicare patients showed 90-day mortality after…

Read More