Editor's Note An automated text messaging system increased patient engagement with home-based exercise and promoted faster recovery after knee and hip replacements, this study finds. In this analysis of 159 patients (83 controls, 76 intervention) having total knee or hip replacement surgery, those receiving timely texts showed improvement in the…

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After transitioning from a paper-based data and operations management system to one that uses relational database software, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center (LHMC) in Burlington, Massachusetts, saved more than $1 million in product purchases in 2017. The surgical value analysis committee (VAC) evaluated 150 product requests and managed the conversion…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 7 issued a statement from Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, on the agency’s new actions under the Digital Health Pre-Certification (Pre-Cert) Pilot Program to promote a more efficient framework for the review of safe and effective digital health innovations. Because digital…

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Editor's Note Zimmer Biomet and Apple Inc have begun a multiyear study that will allow surgeons to use Apple Watches to monitor activities, including heart rate, steps taken, and standing hours of up to 100,000 patients before and after hip and knee replacement surgery, the October 15 Reuters reports. Providers…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on October 17 announced a public workshop to discuss the newly released draft guidance: Content of Premarket Submissions for Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices. The need for effective cybersecurity to ensure medical device function and safety has become more important with…

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Editor's Note Despite ethical and legal obligations to protect patient privacy and efforts to establish best practices for healthcare information security, breach rates have increased since 2010, this study finds. Of 2,149 breaches that involved 176.4 million records, the most common entities breached were healthcare providers, with 1,503 breaches that…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on October 1 released a “Playbook,” developed by the Medical Device Cybersecurity Regional Incident Preparedness and Response (MITRE) Corp, to assist hospitals and other healthcare providers respond to cybersecurity incidents involving medical devices, the American Hospital Association reports.  The MITRE Playbook outlines…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken steps to ensure that medical device manufacturers do as much as possible to defend against hacking and other threats to their devices, according to a new report from the Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General. The…

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Editor's Note Use of a standardized, electronic nursing handoff communication process resulted in decreased boarding time in the emergency department (ED) and increased bed flow efficiency, this study finds. Before implementation of the electronic nursing handoff process, the average ready to move-to-occupied time was 83.6 minutes. This decreased to 49…

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Editor's Note A safe and efficient postoperative telemedicine program is feasible using a commonly used electronic health record system (Epic), and it can improve patient satisfaction, optimize throughput, and increase revenue, this pilot study finds. After researchers constructed an eClinic platform in Epic, they enrolled 233 patients having laparoscopic cholecystectomy,…

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