Editor's Note US News & World Report on August 2 released it 27th Annual Best Hospitals list, which compares nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide in 25 specialties, procedures, or conditions. The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is Number 1 this year, followed by the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, and the…

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Editor's Note The growth in US healthcare spending from 2015 to 2025 is projected to average 5.8%--1.3% faster than growth in the gross domestic product, finds this study. Healthcare will represent 20.1% of the total economy by 2025. With the initial impact of the Affordable Care Act fading, growth in…

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Editor's Note The Monticello Community Surgery Center, Charlottesville, Virginia, is posting prices of outpatient procedures on its website, the July 22 CBS 19 reports. The center’s CEO Andy Poole calls it the “wave of the future of healthcare.” Though the center takes insurance and Medicare, knowing the total cost of…

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Editor's Note A survey by the Joint Commission, American Hospital Association, and Federation of American Hospitals, finds that Medicare's new Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting program requirements for electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) are achievable, but organizations will need to address education, process, and technology hurdles to meet the deadline of…

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When audits revealed areas of deficit in the sterile processing departments (SPDs) of the Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, leaders pulled together a team to help implement a quality improvement plan. By analyzing and standardizing their processes, creating auditing tools, and educating staff, they significantly increased quality scores throughout…

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Personal wearable technology, which covers the gamut from activity trackers such as Fitbit to e-textiles that monitor vital signs, have the potential to revolutionize healthcare. Like most innovations, however, the technology comes with risks. For OR leaders, those risks include possible security breaches, distractions, and violation of patient privacy and…

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How do OR leaders enhance family members’ satisfaction with the communication they receive when their loved ones are in surgery? Thanks to advances in technology, many are turning to tools like mobile apps and text messaging. At Memorial Medical Center (MMC) in Springfield, Illinois, Lexanne Darwent, BSN, RN, helped implement…

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Editor's Note Improving processes for ordering, transporting, and storing blood at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, resulted in $2 million in savings and a 30% reduction in blood utilization in a study presented as a poster presentation at the 2016 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program…

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Editor's Note A surgical comanagement hospitalist program reduced complications, length of stay, 30-day readmissions, number of consultants, and cost of care in this study. There was no significant changed in patient satisfaction and the average savings was $2,642 to $4,303 per patient. This retrospective study by researchers from Stanford University…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are recommending using unique device identifiers (UDIs) in universal health insurance claims forms to improve value-based reimbursement for medical devices and postmarket surveillance, the July 14 Modern Healthcare reports. Proponents say UDIs could help…

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