Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced May 17 that it has extended the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) program data submission deadline from Monday, May 17, to Monday, July 19, 2021. The extension provides ASCs with more time to obtain HARP [Health Care Quality…

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This series, written by OR Manager’s clinical editor, Judy Mathias, MA, RN, presents the management approaches of top leaders from around the country and describes the qualities that make them exemplary leaders. These articles are intended to inspire nurse leaders to achieve the highest levels of success in their careers…

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First assistants (FAs) can play an important role in achieving optimal outcomes and higher surgical case volumes. Part 1 of this two-part series discussed types, education, and certification of FAs (OR Manager, May 2021, pp 1, 15-18). Part 2 answers questions related to risk management and oversight, and discusses possible…

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A year ago at this time, healthcare facilities were busy resuming elective procedures that had been put on hold because of COVID-19—a feat that required agility, innovation, and collaboration to ensure staff and patient safety amid the ongoing pandemic. It’s remarkable that multiple vaccines have since been developed and administered…

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Reforms are underway to curb surprise billing practices, with new federal government regulations due to be published by July 1 as part of the No Surprises Act passed by Congress in late 2020. Among many other provisions, the new law will require insurance providers to be more transparent about prices…

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Unexpected benefits can arise from unexpected circumstances. Relatively new nurse leaders at two different facilities have found this to be true, for different reasons. Both have faced sudden changes that made their jobs more difficult but also gave them opportunities for growth. When the director of ambulatory care at Brigham…

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Editor's Note Urban hospitals bounced back faster than rural hospitals from surgical caseload decreases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, finds a new study released May 13 by Caresyntax, a Boston-based developer of surgical intelligence and automation technologies. The study, “The State of Surgery: An Analysis of Surgical Trends During the…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 13 announced that fully vaccinated individuals can discard masks and do away with social distancing outdoors and in most indoor settings. The agency still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings, such as buses, planes, hospitals, prisons, and…

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Editor's Note The New York Times (NYT) reported on May 11 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new guidelines for mask wearing are misleading because they treat outdoor transmission of COVID-19 as a major risk. The CDC reports that less than 10% of COVID-19 transmissions are occurring…

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Editor's Note This study from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are immunogenic in pregnant and lactating women, and they induce immune responses against variants. For the study, researchers enrolled 30 pregnant, 16 lactating, and 57 neither pregnant nor lactating women…

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