OR Business
Outcomes, costs of Medicare patients having surgery at teaching vs nonteaching hospitals
Editor's Note This study of Medicare patients at 340 teaching hospitals and matched patient controls at 2,444 nonteaching hospitals found that as risk of mortality increased, the mortality benefit of treatment at teaching hospitals also increased, though with marginally higher costs. Included in the analysis were 86,751 pairs of general,…
HHS releases final interoperability rules
Editor's Note The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 9 released two interoperability rules, which will give patients direct access to their healthcare data. These rules mark the most extensive healthcare data sharing policies the federal government has implemented, requiring public and private entities to share…
Humana using AI to streamline services
Editor's Note Humana is using artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic processes to help frontline healthcare personnel with daily tasks and to streamline access to patient care, the March 2 Forbes reports. It is testing how to pull information from medical records based on identifying key words in conversations between healthcare…
Improved work environments linked to lower nurse burnout, higher patient satisfaction
Editor's Note This study from Linda Aiken, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, found that high levels of nurse burnout are associated with lower patient satisfaction. In this analysis of nurse burnout and patient satisfaction in 463 hospitals in four states, 50% of the hospitals where burnout…
CDC urges communities, hospitals to prepare for spread of coronavirus
Editor's Note In a February 25 telebriefing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will spread in the US, and hospitals and communities should begin ramping up their preparedness efforts, AHA Today reports. The CDC urged communities to implement non-pharmaceutical interventions or community…
Effect of total joint bundled payment program on patient selection
Editor's Note In this study, researchers found little to no significant change in the characteristics of patients having total hip and knee replacement surgery after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services introduced the mandatory bundled payment programs in selected metropolitan statistical areas. The analysis included a matched set of…
CMS proposes changes to total joint bundled payment program
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on February 20 issued a rule proposing changes to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) program, which bundles payments to acute care hospitals for hip and knee replacement surgical procedures. CMS proposes extending the CJR model for an additional…
Nuts and bolts of new technology acquisition--Part 2
Technology acquisitions require OR leaders to weigh the competing demands of stakeholders—including physicians, nursing staff, the finance department, and patients—and to make sure they address those demands when justifying a new purchase. “New technology can be what’s needed to keep competitive in the current environment,” says Beth Bozzelli, MBA, RN,…
Back to basics: How collaboration can improve PACU patient flow
Healthcare technology can be a great thing, but nurses at Abington—Jefferson Health, in Abington, Pennsylvania, have discovered that sometimes stepping back from it is the best way to make progress. Going low-tech was the key that unlocked patient flow gridlock that had plagued the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). Before 2017,…
Using project management principles to hardwire ERAS protocols
Implementation of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System in Richmond has been achieved through project and change management tools that transform the current state to the desired future state. To hardwire ERAS protocols in the OR as well as the ambulatory and acute care…
Free Daily News
- Back to Business: Budgeting for Sustainable Staffing Models in the OR
- Healthcare job gain in August offset by losses in federal government, other industries
- AHA study: HOPD Medicare patients are poorer, sicker, more rural than those seen in physician offices
- ACS, Lifesaving Technologies launch nationwide effort to expand bleeding control readiness
- Minimally invasive ICH surgery evacuates clot fast but fails to improve 6-month outcomes
- Rural hospitals face crisis under OBBBA as experts call for cohesive reform
- AMA urges health systems to act now on AI governance
- Suicide Prevention Month: Hospitals prepare for new The Joint Commission suicide prevention goal, effective 2026
- Survey: Perioperative leaders adapt to supply strain, staffing pressure, ASC growth
- Gait retraining eases knee osteoarthritis pain as effectively as medication, can delay knee surgery