An estimated 126.6 million Americans are dealing with the impact of a musculoskeletal (MSK) condition, according to a US Bone and Joint Initiative report. That means, one in two adults in the US have gone or will be going through a wide range of hip, knee, shoulder, and/or spine procedures.…

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Emerging from the thick of the pandemic has been tough for OR managers and clinicians, between rampant healthcare industry burnout and other challenges. Yet the winners of this year’s OR Manager leadership awards, presented at the OR Manager Conference, are proving that the right combination of hard work, empathy, and…

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Editor's Note Health record codes that track social, environmental, and economic influences on patient health outcomes are vastly underutilized during screening, according a December 19 EurekAlert! report on research from John Hopkins and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.   Published in Health Affairs Scholar, the study analyzes the…

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Editor's Note Video laryngoscopy was found to lead to higher intubation success rates over direct laryngoscopy in critically ill adult patients, an August 2023 randomized controlled trial published by the The New England Journal of Medicine shows. The findings were consistent whether they were intubated in an emergency room or…

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Editor's Note Forbes Advisor released a ranking of the best and worst states for healthcare based on 24 metrics and four key categories: healthcare access, outcomes, cost, and quality of hospital care, Forbes October 13 reports. The article also noted that as many as 70% of Americans are unsatisfied with…

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Editor's Note In a ranking of over 3,000 hospitals done by the Lown Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank in Needham, Massachusetts, researchers found that while inclusion is being prioritized at some hospitals, segregated healthcare markets remain in cities like New Orleans, St. Louis, and Detroit.  The findings were…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 16, announced a strategic affiliation with the National Quality Forum (NQF) in an effort to accelerate improvements across the continuum of patient care and change the focus from competing measures to advancing key outcomes. The NQF will maintain its independence in developing consensus-based…

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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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