Regulations/Legal
Rural hospital closures drive up surgical travel times and costs
Editor's Note Ongoing hospital closures are driving up travel times and out-of-pocket costs for rural Americans who need surgery, according to a February 12 report in HealthDay. Citing two recent studies published in Annals of Surgery and JAMA, respectively, the article details how rural hospital closures have forced more patients…
Session: Anchors Away: 5 Strategies to Right-Size Your Inventory and Improve Supply Contracts
Editor's Note As executive director of the Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM), Michael Schiller, CMRP, gets regular insight into strategies employed by healthcare organizations, suppliers, technology leaders and frontline staff—insight he was happy to share with OR business Management Conference attendees in a February 11 presentation.…
Session: Crew Incentives: 3 Guiding Principles to Leverage Value Analysis Teams
Editor's Note Jasmine Hampton-Nicholson MSN, RN, CNOR, learned the value of a value analysis team (VAT) the hard way. “I thought that we had a very solid process for our value analysis team,” said the VP of perioperative services at Temple University Health System in a presentation at 2025 OR…
OR Business Management Conference, daily coverage begins
Editor's Note If you can’t join us in Tampa for this year’s OR Business Management Conference (ORBMC), we’ve got you covered. This week, newsletter subscribers will enjoy exclusive access to coverage of select sessions from the 13th annual event, hosted today through Wednesday at the Saddlebrook resort in Tampa, Florida.…
FDA announces Class 1 recall for ventilator system
Editor's Note The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated Baxter Healthcare Corporation’s recall of the Life2000 ventilator system as a Class 1, the most severe category indicating serious risk of injury or death. According to the agency’s February 5 announcement, a failed operation during manufacturing compromised the operation…
Moody’s downgrades health insurance outlook as medical costs surge
Editor's Note Moody’s Ratings has shifted the health insurance industry’s credit outlook from stable to negative, according to a February 3 article in Fierce Healthcare. According to the article, the downgrade is due to escalating medical costs that outpace reimbursement rates. Analysts project an 8% rise in commercial market spending…
Criminalizing anesthesia errors has unintended consequences, experts warn
Editor's Note Treating unintended anesthesia errors as criminal acts could exacerbate workforce shortages, increase malpractice costs, and drive clinicians to defensive medicine, according to experts quoted in a January 15 report from Anesthesiology News. Instead, fostering a culture of safety and learning could more effectively reduce errors and improve patient…
FDA approves new non-opioid analgesic
Editor's Note The FDA has approved Journavx (suzetrigine), a first-in-class non-opioid analgesic, for the treatment of moderate to severe acute pain in adults. According to the agency’s January 30 announcement, the drug targets sodium channels in the peripheral nervous system to block pain signals before they reach the brain, representing…
Legislation proposes to halt Medicare physician payment cuts
Editor's Note A January 31 statement from the American Medical Association (AMA) announces the organization’s support for bipartisan legislation aiming to reverse steep Medicare reimbursement reductions threatening physician practices and patient care access. Introduced by a coalition of 10 House members, the "Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act" would…
Cigna ties executive pay to patient experience
Editor's Note As part of a larger initiative to ease access to care, insurance giant Cigna is tying compensation for senior leadership directly to customer satisfaction. Modern Healthcare reported the news February 3. The shift is part of a multi-pronged approach that also includes overhauling prior authorization requirements and limiting…
Free Daily News
- Waste-reduction culture, elimination of anesthetic gases slash OR emissions at USC
- Clinicians urged to rethink gynecologic pain management
- Direct-hire international nurses could offer sustainable solution to US shortage
- Healthcare leaders project revenue gains from value-based care despite persistent hurdles
- CMS updates hospital price transparency guidelines
- CDC communication breakdown raises public health risk
- Study: Shorter radiation schedule matches safety of standard prostate cancer treatment
- Poll: Healthcare cybersecurity leaders overlook AI-enabled physical security gaps
- ASC improves hospital efficiency, maintains outcomes despite higher-acuity joint replacement patients
- Hospital support staff cuts raise risk of infection, delays in care