Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 9, announced that it is revising a performance measure for the advanced Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement (THKR) Certification Program—THKR-5: Postoperative Functional/Health Status Assessment—to align with a similar Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) measure. The recently adopted CMS performance measure—Hospital-Level,…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examines the use of a machine learning (ML) model to predict the suitability for having a surgical procedure performed at an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) vs a hospital-based outpatient department (HOPD). To augment a labor intensive manual process in…

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Editor's Note The American Hospital Association (AHA), on August 9, announced that COVID-19 HIPAA rules for telehealth would expire at 11:59 pm. The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) implemented a HIPAA policy for telehealth during the COVID-19 public health emergency, which provided enforcement discretion…

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Editor's Note This study, led by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examines opportunities to improve inequitable postoperative outcomes by evaluating unmet social health needs by race, ethnicity, and insurance type. Outcomes included poor health status (self-reported), socioeconomic status (income, education, employment), and unmet social health needs (food,…

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Editor's Note The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), on August 1, released new interactive tools and resources to help collect patient data in advance of mandatory reporting periods. Orthopedic care teams are urged to take note because patient-reported outcome measures (eg, pain, physical mobility, emotional well-being, and experience of…

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Editor's Note This study from researchers at Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates and SpineFirst, Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina, examines the cost-utility of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) performed in an ASC vs an inpatient hospital setting at 1-year follow-up.  A total of 6,504 patients having 1-to 2-level ACDF…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examines the association between hospital market competition and outcomes after high-risk surgical procedures. A total of 2,248,438 Medicare beneficiaries who had 1 of 10 high-risk surgical procedures between 2015 and 2018 were included in the analysis. Compared with low-competition…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at Good Samaritan Medical Center, Brockton, Massachusetts, and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, examines the clinical outcomes and costs of robotic and open ventral hernia repairs. A total of 675 open and 609 robotic ventral hernia repairs were included in the analysis.…

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Editor's Note This Canadian study finds a 1.5-fold increase in costs in the year after major, elective noncardiac surgery for patients with preoperative frailty. A total of 171,576 patients (23,219 with preoperative frailty) were included in the analysis. Unadjusted costs were higher for frail patients. After adjusting for confounders, an…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on July 28, identified the recall by GE HealthCare of its TruSignal SpO2 [arterial oxygen saturation] sensors as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of issues that may reduce the amount of energy sent to the heart during…

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