Editor's Note This study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, finds that disparities in access to orthopedic care persisted as orthopedic surgical patients were shifted to telemedicine during COVID-19. The researchers analyzed nearly 2,000 orthopedic patients receiving care via telemedicine from March to May…
Most high-performing ORs share something in common—an anesthesia group that is actively engaged in perioperative leadership, takes responsibility for organizational performance, and is fully invested in the success of the OR. Unfortunately, in many ORs, anesthesia providers focus narrowly on services and procedures, not the total performance of the surgery…
Editor's Note In response to a May 2020 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services final rule on interoperability and patient access, The Joint Commission has created new requirements that address patient admission, discharge, and transfer notifications. The new requirements, which apply to hospitals and critical access hospitals, address the electronic…
The Janssen Biotech, Inc/Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 27, joining the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines that received EUA in December 2020. In early March, President Biden said that the US would produce enough COVID-19 vaccines…
Fueled by a pandemic, patient demand, and competition with ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), hospital outpatient department (HOPD) leaders are feeling the push to offer same-day discharge for total joint arthroplasty (TJA). Outpatient TJA is nothing new, but it’s certainly growing in popularity, says John W. Stirton, MD, MBA, medical director…
The Joint Commission stopped doing most onsite surveys and reviews from March 16 to May 31, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, they developed processes for conducting offsite or virtual events, and as of mid-December, more than 1,200 offsite surveys and reviews had been conducted across…
Editor's Note In this study of COVID-19 patients in the nationwide Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system, researchers from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, found that 27% of survivors of hospitalization were readmitted or died by 60 days after discharge. Of 2,179 index hospitalizations for COVID-19: 678 (31.1%) were…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 21 issued a new Heads-Up Report on challenges that accredited organizations are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Report topics include: Hospital and critical access hospital emergency privileges Ambulatory healthcare competency assessments Behavioral healthcare identification of environmental risks for suicide Laboratory record keeping for…
Across the US, surgical services are estimated to comprise around 20% of national health spending and typically generate up to 70% of total health system revenue.1, 2 That makes surgical services the largest revenue generator for a hospital, supporting access to numerous other healthcare services. Considering the average hospital has…
Leaders at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System in Richmond started the journey to become an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) hospital in 2016 with the following problem statement: Across surgical specialties, and regardless of superior surgical technique, perioperative care, and anesthesia care, patients can experience extended length of hospital…