Editor's Note An increasing trend in healthcare billing has seen patients facing unexpected "hospital facility fees," even for routine services at clinics not physically connected to a hospital, Stateline April 25 reports. These fees, which can range significantly, are tacked on by hospitals to cover operational costs and have been…

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Editor's Note Most healthcare-associated surgical site infections are not caused by pathogens acquired in the hospital, but by previously harmless bacteria already present on patients’ skin prior to being admitted, according to a study published April 10 in Science Translational Medicine. Surgical site infections account for the highest annual costs…

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Editor's Note Personal information about a “substantial portion of people in America” could be at risk from the February 21 cyberattack on UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare division, The Associated Press reported April 23. Although the company reports no signs of full medical histories or charts were released, notifying all who were…

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Editor's Note How does your experience compare to that of your fellow perioperative leaders? The 2024 Salary/Career Survey is your chance to find out—and to contribute to the education of the broader community. We’ve published an article on a decade's worth of data from the annual survey in every issue…

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Editor's Note Over the last 10 years, private equity has taken over many of the nation’s health care facilities—from hospitals to nursing homes to physician practices—spending $1 trillion and instituting changes designed to rapidly increase profits, NBC News reported April 9. Studies have found that these takeovers can have serious…

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Editor's Note If you’d like the opportunity to share process improvement initiatives, best practices, or in-depth case studies of what perioperative success looks like, now’s the time to start planning. The program committee for the OR Business Management Conference is now accepting abstract proposals for presentations at the 2025 event,…

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Editor's Note Penn Medicine has made significant strides in reducing the environmental footprint of the OR through department- and team-level initiatives, according to a March 29 report in Penn Medicine news. Driven by CIRCE: Medicine, a faculty group consisting of providers from Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, examples…

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The past 10 years of data from the OR Manager Salary/Career Survey reflects many challenges in the healthcare environment, particularly those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. ASC leader respondents report that staffing difficulties have become particularly challenging. For example, only 15% of respondents to the 2014 survey reported increased RN…

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Editor's Note Fallout from the February 21 cyberattack on Change Healthcare continues to threaten physician practices and their patients nationwide, with respondents to a recent American Medical Association (AMA) survey indicating difficulties with insurance claims and eligibility verification. AMA published the results of the informal survey April 10. Conducted March…

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Editor's Note Shortages of active drugs in the US have reached a new record, according to an April 12 CNN report on data from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the University of Utah Drug Information Service. The two organizations have been tracking this data since 2001, the CNN report says.…

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