Editor's Note The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced new guidance on July 11 to ascertain that “abortion is covered under the federal law requiring Medicare hospitals to provide all patients appropriate emergency care—including abortion care—regardless of state law,” Becker’s Hospital Review July 12 reports. The HHS…

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Editor's Note A female patient in Chicago, Illinois, filed a lawsuit on July 7 against the multinational UnitedHealth Group for alleged underpayment of telehealth services, Becker’s Payer Issues July 8 reports. The lawsuit claims that the woman’s insurance plan covers telehealth services, including pay benefits for-out-network services. After receiving out-of-network…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, finds that methylene blue with light (MBL) photochemical treatment can be used to decontaminate personal protective equipment (PPE) contaminated with COVID-19. MBL robustly and consistently inactivated three coronaviruses, including COVID-19, with 99.8% to >99.9% virus inactivation across…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on July 6 identified the recall by Getinge USA Sales Inc of its Flow-c and Flow-e Anesthesia Systems as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated after reports of cracked or broken on/off switchs on the systems’ suction units. If…

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Editor's Note Scientists at UC San Diego and Scripps Research have developed tools to analyze wastewater that have proven effective in identifying emerging COVID-19 variants and predicting surges. COVID-19 patients shed the virus in their stool, whether they have symptoms or not. In the summer of 2020 the scientists began…

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Editor's Note Three cases of the newest Omicron subvariant BA.2.75 have been detected on the West Coast, two in California and one in Washington, the July 11 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. The subvariant is also in India and 10 other countries. The subvariant has a large number of mutations that…

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Editor's Note This systematic review and meta-analysis from Stony Brook Cancer Center, Stony Brook University, New York City, and the University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, finds that COVID-19 pandemic measures were associated with widely reduced cancer screening services. Between January and October 2020, there was an overall decrease of: -46.7%…

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Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up in June to a seasonally adjusted 16,314,900 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on July 8. That’s up 56,700 since May. Hospital employment also was up by 20,500 jobs. The overall unemployment rate for June remained at 3.6%, for…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on July 6, announced a new online toolkit, the “Readiness Roadmap,” that will help organizations locate resources for survey or review based on where they are in their accreditation, certification, or verification process. The toolkit, which is available on The Joint Commission’s Connect extranet site…

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Editor's Note After this October 2020 peer-reviewed study, titled “Disposable versus reusable medical gowns: A performance comparison,” found that “isolation gowns commonly worn in medical units or intensive care units ripped too easily and allowed about four to 14 times the expected amount of liquid to seep through when sprayed…

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