“Surgeons are the only people trained to provide surgery—life-saving care," says Carrie Zlatos, chief of legislative and political affairs at the American College of Surgeons (ACS). "They are an essential element of a community-based healthcare system. Regardless of where you live, everyone should have access to full quality surgical care.”…

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Takeaways • Requirements for improvement and condition level deficiency findings have been trending up in recent The Joint Commission surveys. • The scoring trends and OR hot spots focus on infection control, medication management, national patient safety goals, post-surgical electronic health record tracers, and transplant (tissue) safety. • Federal regulations,…

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Editor's Note Balloon catheters for atrial fibrillation patients and implantable radiographic markers were the subjects of separate US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Class 1 recalls—the most severe category indicating risk of serious injury or death—announced on December 18. The first recall involves Boston Scientific’s POLARx Cryoablation devices. Higher-than-anticipated reports…

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Editor's Note Robotic-assisted surgical procedures are no longer futuristic—they are becoming a mainstay in modern ORs. While Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci system has led the market since 2001, competitors Medtronic and Zimmer Biomet are building innovative portfolios to challenge its dominance, MarketBeat December 12 reports. Medtronic’s Hugo Robotic Assisted Surgery…

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Editor's Note Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield recently reversed its controversial plan to impose time limits on anesthesia coverage after intense backlash from the medical community, including anesthesiologists and patient advocates. The policy, aimed at curbing alleged overbilling, would have restricted payments based on average surgery times, a move critics…

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Editor's Note Certain medical bills reclassifying minor procedures as “surgery” are driving up costs and causing confusion among patients, KFF Health News December 13 reports. Cases such as a $414 charge for a splinter removal with tweezers and a $469 charge for freezing a skin tag highlight how CPT codes…

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Editor's Note In a move that could hinder provider-led joint ventures and increase regulatory uncertainty, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Justice Department have withdrawn antitrust guidance issued in 2000. Modern Healthcare reported the news on December 16. Passed in a 3-2 vote, the decision eliminates previously relied-upon safe…

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Editor's Note Risk of delayed therapy and death related to Ivenix large-volume infusion pumps is prompting supplier Fresenius Kabi USA to pull a subset of the devices from the market, according to an early alert from The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Issued December 11, the early alert is…

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Editor's Note "Why is healthcare cybersecurity so bad?" This is the central question explored in a December 4 video from STAT health tech reporter Brittany Trang, who also wrote an article on the subject earlier this year. Brought into sharp focus by data exposures related to the recent attack on…

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Editor's Note Leading medical journals vary significantly in guidance addressing the use artificial intelligence (AI) in medical research, according to an analysis published December 3 in JAMA Network Open.   The study categorized journals’ attitudes toward AI-assisted peer review into three groups: prohibition, limited use with conditions, and lack of explicit…

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