Uncategorized Editor's Note During a 5-year quality improvement project, an academic medical center’s bariatric surgery program lowered its rates of postoperative complications and readmissions, surgical site infections (SSIs) and urinary tract infections (UTIs), and bleeding despite doubling its surgical volume, finds this study presented July 23 at the American College of…
Editor's Note Cybersecurity firm Cryptonite reports there were eight major healthcare data breaches in the first half of 2018, down from 19 during the same time in 2017, according to the July 18 Healthcare Informatics. However, the number of patient records breached this year was up, with more than 1.9…
Editor's Note University of Texas engineering students have created a laparoscopic camera cleaner designed like a 7-Eleven Slurpee straw that keeps a camera smudge-free, the July 17 Medical Design & Outsourcing reports. The “ClearCam” device has a scoop-like shape that acts like a squeegee to clean the camera. Surgeons can…
Editor's Note Preventability of readmissions changes with time, this study finds. Readmissions within the first week after discharge were more likely to be preventable by hospital-based interventions, whereas later readmissions were less likely to be preventable and more amenable to ambulatory and home-based interventions. This analysis of 822 patients readmitted…
Editor's Note In its July Health Technology eSource, ECRI Institute reported on Boston Medical Center winning the 2018 Health Devices Achievement Award for its pulmonary care app. The ICOUGH Recovery app promotes better engagement with and adherence to the hospital’s recommended postoperative pulmonary care protocol, which focuses on: (I)ncentive spirometry…
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it is extending the deadline for its new alternative bundled payment model from August 1 to August 8, the July 5 Modern Healthcare reports. CMS extended the deadline after receiving complaints from providers and hospitals that they weren’t…
Editor's Note Patients assessed in hospital-based emergency departments (EDs) were 20% more likely to be admitted than patients at freestanding EDs, this study finds. Data for the 3,230 patient study, were collected from 2015 Cleveland Clinic statistics of its tertiary hospital-based ED and two of its freestanding EDs. Of 1,708…
Editor's Note Patients having surgery for degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) are less likely to be dependent on opioids after surgery than before, this study finds. Of 10,708 DS patients who had surgery between 2000 and 2012, 14.85% were opioid dependent within 12 months before surgery, and 9.90% were opioid dependent 3…
Editor's Note An Acquire Market Research report predicts the global spinal fusion market will grow at a 4.54% compound annual growth rate through 2023, according to the June 21 Becker’s Spine Review. Reasons for the predicted growth are the: growing incidence of spinal deformity cases rising healthcare awareness increase in…
Editor's Note Surgeon and Harvard Medical School professor Atul Gawande, MD, has been named CEO of the Boston-based Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway healthcare venture, the June 20 Modern Healthcare reports. The companies, which are focused on lowering the cost of care primarily for their nearly 1.2 million…
