Editor's Note The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on November 28 issued a draft strategy to reduce administrative and regulatory burdens caused by electronic health records (EHRs) and health information technology (health IT). The draft “Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden Relating to the Use of Health…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recently launched a new app to help streamline electronic health record (EHR) data collection for researchers, The November 7 EHR Intelligence reports. Using the MyStudies app, researchers can access patient-generated health data, EHR patient data, and claims and billing information for use in…

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Editor's Note Transitioning from administrative data to chart-based surveillance review to measure hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs) and accounting for HAPU severity could improve the validity of measures for assessing the clinical and financial impact of value-based purchasing interventions, this study finds. Assessing HAPU incidence, severity, and trends using administrative data…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers developed an algorithm model that accurately identified surgical site infections (SSIs) using independent variables from electronic health record data and outcomes from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). Researchers fit 3 models to data from patients having surgery at the…

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Editor's Note The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on October 29 opened the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) at its headquarters in Washington DC. HC3 will play a vital role in early detection of cybersecurity attacks and coordination of information between the healthcare sector and the Department…

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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 Rebecca Wiseman, PhD, RN, associate professor and chair of the University of Maryland School of Nursing at the Universities at Shady Grove, has been awarded a grant to establish the Maryland Nursing Workforce Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), according to an October 8 news release.…

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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 Appropriate nursing staff mix is important for quality care,  and understanding how staffing skill mix affects outcomes allows policymakers and clinicians to make good staffing decisions, finds this study. Researchers from the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario analyzed 626 studies on the effectiveness of RNs on clinical, patient,…

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Editor's Note A new study by consultancy firm Navigant found that academic medical centers are trailing community hospitals across cost and quality measures. Among the findings: Cost per case was 5.8% higher at medical centers, equating to $3.1 million added annual operating expense per center. Cost per case disparity between high…

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