Editor's Note Understanding the impact of value-based care on the surgical suite (VBC) will be essential for hospitals to understand as payers begin to seek partners in new payment models. In a conference session yesterday, Lauren Cricchi, associate principal, financial services at Avalere Healthcare and Katie Sullivan, senior vice president,…
Editor's Note How will healthcare regulators deal with artificial intelligence? How will malpractice law change, and who will be liable for harm derived from AI diagnosis and treatment recommendations? What can be done about bias in AI? Even amid a surge in algorithms cleared by the FDA, all of these…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission has released revised requirements for the advanced disease-specific care certification for total hip and total knee replacement (THKR). The requirements, which are designed to align with the updated AAOS clinical practice guidelines, go into effect July 1, 2024 and focus largely on addressing opioids and…
Editor's Note The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 24 updated its safety recall communication from November 6 to add to the voluntary recalls of saline and sterile water medical products associated with Nurse Assist, LLC. The FDA recall notice lists various water-based medical products manufactured by Nurse…
Editor's Note: A point-of-care, antimicrobial coating for orthopedic implants could soon make implant-associated infections a problem of the past, UCLA Health reported on January 3. Developed by two UCLA surgeons, the coating is designed to kill or slow the spread of micro-organisms in order to prevent post-surgical infections. According to…
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has implemented a final rule reforming the prior authorization process, with the aim to reduce delays in patient care and boost electronic efficiency for physicians, the American Medical Association (AMA) News Wire reported January 23. The Department of Health and…
In every OR, the complicated dance of surgical care coordination—the series of handoffs between stakeholders throughout the surgery lifecycle—is performed mainly in the background. Those stakeholders include physician offices, schedulers, preadmission testing, insurance verification, vendors, sterile processing, supply chain, anesthesia, and surgical staff. But what does it look like when…
Takeaways • VA and Navy hospitals are subject to many of the same requirements as their civilian counterparts, including adherence to quality and infection control standards as well as regulations from organizations such as AORN. • Rank structure plays a significant role in forming and leading OR teams at Navy…
Editor's Note: Non-monetary compensation to physicians is limited to no more than $507 for calendar year 2024, according to a report on the federal Stark Law published December 27 in Lexology. The Stark Law applies to non-cash or cash-equivalent payments from hospitals, physician groups, labs and other provider entities. The…
Editor's Note Recent announcements from The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) validate vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) as an established device sterilization method and warn against the use of the Synovo Total Hip Replacement system. Issued January 8, the announcement about VHP is part of the agency’s multi-pronged approach to…