Editor's Note Making good on plans announced by the Biden administration in December, federal agencies have launched a public inquiry into how private equity mergers and acquisitions impact patient outcomes, worker safety, and healthcare access and costs, including costs to taxpayers.  As reported by Dotmed Healthcare Business News on March…

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Editor's Note In a March 9 Press release, CMS announced it will offer emergency funding for healthcare providers experiencing continued disruptions in the wake of a February 21 cyberattack on Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealthGroup and a major processor of medical claims. According to the release, CMS will extend…

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Editor's Note Spine surgeons are sounding the alarm about high numbers of unnecessary fusion surgeries, according to a March 5 report in Becker’s Spine Review. Unnecessary surgeries refer to any surgical intervention that is not needed or in the patient’s best interest. A recent report from Forbes finds that 50%…

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Editor's Note Quality of care drops when hospitals move from public to private ownership, according to review published in the March issue of the Lancet Public Health. The meta-analysis uses evidence from 13 longitudinal studies across the United States, Canada, Croatia, England, Germany, Italy, South Korea, and Sweden. Researchers evaluated…

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Editor's Note Addressing pressure on margins, inconsistent processes, and staffing issues are top priorities for healthcare supply chain leaders recently surveyed by symplr, a provider of enterprise healthcare operations software. Published February 27, the State of Healthcare Supply Chain Survey offers insight from nearly 100 VPs of Supply Chain, Chief…

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Editor's Note The ransomware group behind a recent cyberattack on one of the nation’s largest health systems has its sights set on hospitals, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned February 27. According to a report in Chief Healthcare Executive one day later, systems were…

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Editor's Note More CEOs are considering rural emergency hospital (REH) designation, according to a February 12 article in Becker’s Hospital CFO Report. In January 2023, REH was established as a new Medicare provider type to enable struggling rural hospitals to continue operating with outpatient and emergency services only, instead of…

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Takeaways The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated staffing problems, and although some parameters have improved, challenges remain. Surgical volume took a sharp drop during the pandemic but is now rebounding. Over the years, the gap in difficulty between recruiting RNs and recruiting STs has narrowed. Last month, OR Manager looked back on…

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RNs are projected to see the highest increase in pay over the next 10 years compared to other healthcare professionals, new research reveals. The research by TollFreeForwarding.com projected the future hourly earnings of 16 professions, including doctors, dentists, and RNs. Although all three professions project to see earnings increases over the…

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Editor's Note A recent double-blind, randomized controlled trial could not prove that minimally invasive sacroiliac joint fusion was any more effective than sham surgery in treating severe sacroiliac joint pain. “With these findings, there should be discussion in the medical community whether an irreversible surgical procedure with related risks and…

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