Editor's Note Medicare’s Hospital Acquired Condition Reduction Program’s (HACRP) measure for surgical site infections (SSIs) after hysterectomy and colectomy unfairly places hospitals that are not statistical outliers at risk for financial penalties, this study from the University of Michigan finds. SSIs occurred in 1.1% of hysterectomies and 4.8% of colectomies…

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Editor's Note The US News & World Report on June 26 announced the 2018-2019 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Ten hospitals earned a place on the Honor Roll, which awards hospitals that deliver exceptionally high quality care across multiple specialties: Boston Children’s Hospital Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Children’s Hospital of…

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Editor's Note Patients with diabetes are more likely to have adverse outcomes after surgery, and greater risks are associated with increasing HbA1c levels, this study finds. Of 7,565 patients analyzed, 30% had diabetes and 37% had prediabetes. After adjustments, diabetes was linked to increased: 6-month mortality (9% in patients with…

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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…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 20 announced “Quick Safety 42: Identifying human trafficking victims.” The Quick Safety focuses on: recognizing signs of human trafficking knowing when to involve law enforcement becoming familiar with community resources that can help the victims.

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Editor's Note Malnourished hospitalized surgical and medical patients who participated in a nutrition quality improvement (QI) program had improved readmission rates and length of stay (LOS), but surgical patients had a significantly greater reduction in readmissions than medical patients, in this study. Of 1,269 patients analyzed, 288 were surgical patients…

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Editor's Note Robot-assisted and open cystectomies are equally effective in treating bladder cancer, this 7-year study finds. Conducted at 17 institutions, 350 patients with bladder cancer were randomized to the open (175 patients) or the robot-assisted (175 patients) surgical approach. The researchers found lower blood loss and transfusion rates and…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on June 20 that it is seeking comments on proposed changes to the National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 03.05.01 on reducing harm from anticoagulant therapy. Revised requirements, which will address the use of new direct oral anticoagulant medications, include: drug selection dosing and monitoring…

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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…

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Editor's Note In patients with traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) after traffic collisions, advanced life support (ALS) performed by physicians was associated with increased chance of 1-month survival compared with ALS or basic life support (BLS) performed by emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, this Japanese study finds. Of 4,328 patients…

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