Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, also referred to as Arcturus, accounted for nearly 12% of COVID-19 cases in the US last week, and another relative, XBB.1.9.1 is responsible for 9% of cases, as of April 29, the April 28…

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Editor's Note The US State Department will not accept any more applications for green cards for foreign nurses this year, and only applications that were submitted by June 2022 will be processed until the backlog eases, the April 24 Becker’s Clinical Leadership & Infection Control reports. Current green card processing…

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Editor's Note In a letter, the American Hospitals Association, on April 19, announced its support for the reintroduction of the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees Act (H.R. 2584), which would give healthcare workers legal protections against assault and intimidation similar to that of flight crews and airport workers. The…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on April 13, updated prescribing information for all opioid pain medications, including requiring all packaging to have updated labeling and safety information. This includes stating that: for both immediate-release (IR) and extended release/long acting (ER/LA) opioid pain medications, the risk of overdose…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), on April 10, released its fiscal year (FY) 2024 Medicare inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) proposed rule, which would increase Medicare payments by 2.8% for hospitals that are meaningful users of electronic health records and submit quality data. The 2.8%…

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Editor's Note President Biden, on April 10, signed a congressional resolution ending the 3-year COVID-19 national emergency a month earlier than expected, but a separate public health emergency will remain in effect until May 11, the April 10 Associated Press reports. The resolution terminates COVID-19 related waivers for federal health…

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Editor's Note ECRI, on April 10, released a statement saying it is “deeply disturbed” by reports that nearly 99% of US hospitals have third-party tracking on their websites that transfers patient data to technology and social media companies, advertising firms, and data brokers. Besides the violation of privacy, ECRI says…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, find that violence-related trauma increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trauma registry data on 2,563 violence-related patient presentations in Connecticut from 2018 to 2021 were included in the analysis. The researchers found a: 55% increase in violence-related…

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Editor's Note The state of Missouri is the most recent state—out of 11—to propose legislation and/or regulations to curb or cap “price gouging” on travel nursing from healthcare staffing agencies, USA Today March 16 reports. The proposed legislation out of Missouri would reportedly allow for felony charges to be brought…

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Editor's Note The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), on March 29, issued a news report urging the public to learn to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose, now that the Food and Drug Administration has approved naloxone for sale over the counter. Naloxone, which is commonly sold as a…

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