Editor's Note More than 700 rural hospitals, representing 31% of all rural hospitals in the country, are at risk of closure, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform. Chief Healthcare Executive reported the news August 8. According to the article, 16% of all rural…

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Editor's Note The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the ongoing mpox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency, according to a CNN article published a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned about increasing activity for seasonal respiratory virus parvovirus B19. WHO issued the emergency…

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Editor's Note Medicare’s first negotiations on 10 top-selling prescription drugs for older Americans will save the US government $6 billion in the first year, according to an August 15 article in Reuters. Enabled by President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, negotiations for drugs used by Medicare—which covers 66 million…

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Editor's Note At last year’s OR Manager Conference, healthcare leader Karen Reiter, RN, CNOR, RNFA, CASC, shared her expertise on integrating complex spine procedures into ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). As the former administrator at DISC Surgery Center at Newport Beach and vice president of operations and payer management at TriasMD,…

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Editor's Note A new low for median days cash-on hand could spell trouble for US nonprofit hospitals and health systems, Healthcare Dive reported August 12. “Nonprofit hospitals’ cash on hand — the funds immediately available to finance daily operations — is one indicator of financial health,” the outlet reports. “Low cash…

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Editor's Note A dispute over cameras in ORs reportedly added tension to nurse strike negotiations that recently culminated in a tentative agreement with union nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. According to an August 7 CBS News report, the OR cameras are intended to assist with robotic surgeries.…

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Editor's Note This new multicenter study published by the Heart Rhythm Society on August 5 found that ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) offer a safe and effective setting for performing various cardiac electrophysiology procedures, including catheter ablation (CA). The research, which retrospectively analyzed 4,037 procedures, highlights the viability of ASCs as…

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Editor's Note Medicare and patient out-of-pocket costs are rising as vertical integration results in more procedures moving to hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) than to ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), Becker’s ASC Review reported on August 8. The article summarizes a study published July 25 in Science Direct. Described as "physician vertical…

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Editor's Note In a first step toward battery-free wearable electronics, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a healthcare device powered by the patient's body heat. According to an article published July 16 in MedicalXpress, the device combines a pulse oximetry sensor with a flexible, stretchable thermoelectric energy generator made…

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Editor's Note For diabetic patients with obesity and chronic kidney disease (CKD), metabolic bariatric surgery could protect the kidneys better than therapy with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA), according to research published in the September issue of the Annals of Surgery. Conducted at a large US health system, the study…

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