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…

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Editor's Note:  The 250 best hospitals in the US perform at such a high level that those at the lower end of the rankings aren’t much different from those at the higher end, according to a January 23 report from Chief Healthcare Executive. Released annually by Healthgrades, the 2024 "Top…

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Editor's Note:  Pennsylvania hospitals and health systems lost a total of $8.1 billion to COVID-19 between January 2020 and December 2022, HealthLeaders reported on January 18. In addition to illuminating the new data from The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council and The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, the…

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Editor's Note The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced a new initiative to ensure public access to emergency healthcare and assist hospitals in fulfilling obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a CMS January…

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Editor's Note: Rural communities are at serious risk due to hospitals’ increasing inability to offer labor and delivery services, according to a new report from the Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform. Highlights include: More than half (55%) of rural hospitals in the U.S. do not offer labor and…

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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…

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Takeaways • Perioperative business managers can make significant contributions to a hospital’s financial health, but more than half of hospitals do not have this role. • Business managers’ earnings have increased in the past 5 years, while the number of direct reports has risen slightly. • The bachelor’s degree has…

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Nursing is not a career path for the faint of heart. However, working in places wracked by civil strife and natural catastrophes can strain the composure of the most elite in any specialty. If the OR tent lifting away in strong post-hurricane winds stateside is not bad enough, imagine having…

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Editor's Note:  Researchers from UCLA and UC Irvine have created the first comprehensive online repository of physiological waveform and health record data from surgeries which is intended to serve as a resource for training and testing AI algorithms. The findings were published in JAMIA Open on October 17.  In development…

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Editor's Note Eight chronic conditions—arthritis, depression, diabetes, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and chronic kidney disease (CKD)—continue to expand nationwide along with premature deaths from drugs, firearms, and more, according America’s Health Rankings 2023 Annual Report. Presented by the United Health Foundation in partnership with…

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