Editor's Note A survey of 1,000 physicians by the American Medical Association and KPMG finds that fewer than one in four believe they are well prepared to meet the 2017 requirements of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), KPMG.com reported on June 28. MACRA reshapes how…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 30 issued a draft guideline: “Product Identifier Requirements Under the Drug Supply Chain Security Act−Compliance Policy.” The draft guidance describes the FDA’s enforcement of requirements related to unique device identification (UDI), specifically those that manufacturers affix or imprint on a…

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Editor's Note This Australian study finds it is a good economic decision for large healthcare facilities to invest in low-temperature systems for sterilization of steam-sterilizable endoscopes. Increased costs associated with low-temperature systems were outweighed by savings from fewer instrument repairs. Based on their calculations, the researchers estimated a savings of…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 28 posted a Quick Safety on daily safety briefings--a hallmark of high reliability organizations. Safety briefings--also called safety huddles, daily check-ins, or daily safety calls--are used to give keep frontline staff and leadership informed. The briefings can be used to: share issues that…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on June 27 announced the recall by PharMEDium Services of specific lots of potassium phosphate and succinylcholine chloride because of a lack of sterility assurance. The products being recalled were compounded using certain Hospira products, which were recalled on June 15 because microbial…

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Editor's Note Emergency department (ED) visits after total joint procedures were numerous and mostly for pain-related diagnoses, and Medicaid patients had almost double the risk of an ED or pain-related ED visit, this study finds. Of 152,783 patients analyzed, 3.42% returned to the inpatient setting and 5.81% visited the ED…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the creation of a new centralized Digital Health Unit in its Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which together with draft guidance on software as a medical device, is designed to support technological innovation and advance digital health, the June…

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Editor's Note For the third straight year, Boston Children’s Hospital tops the US News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was second, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center was third. US News bases its honor roll on how hospitals rank in each of 10…

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Editor's Note Treating contaminated surgical instruments with alcohol, allowing them to dry, or allowing them to soak in water for extended periods of time increases cleaning difficulty and may contribute to sterilization inefficacy, this study finds. Soaking or spraying instruments with alcohol significantly reduced viable bacterial numbers, but significantly increased…

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Editor's Note A new Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study finds that the body repairs DNA damage more efficiently if workers sleep during the night than if they sleep during the day. Unrepaired DNA damage can lead to cancer and other health problems. Using urine specimens collected during night work…

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