Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on September 26 released a final rule that revises discharge planning requirements for hospitals, the September 26 Becker’s Clinical Leadership & Infection Control reports. Among the requirements: Hospitals must prioritize patients’ care goals and treatment preferences during discharge planning. Hospitals…

Read More

Editor's Note A computer model, which for the first time accurately predicted two of the most challenging side effects of radiation therapy for head and neck cancer patients, was presented September 26 at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology in Chicago. Researchers from the University of…

Read More

Editor's Note When deep learning algorithms were compared with health-care professionals in classifying diseases using medical imaging, diagnostic performance was equivalent between the two. In this meta-analysis of 14 studies, researchers found that deep learning systems correctly detected a disease state 87% of the time, compared with 86.4% for healthcare…

Read More

Editor's Note Amazon has launched Amazon Care, a virtual primary care clinic, with an option for home visits from nurses, the September 24 CNBC.com reports. Employees will have an option to see a physician, nurse practitioner, or RN via a mobile app or website, and they can text a nurse…

Read More

About 2 years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. As I researched the treatment alternatives, I became very concerned about the complications associated with traditional surgical prostatectomy or radiation. Then I learned that I might be eligible for an outpatient procedure: high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Although HIFU is relatively…

Read More

Editor's Note Current rehabilitation practices may not be sufficient for hip fracture recovery in older adults, this study finds. A total of 210 patients from three US academic centers were randomized to a training intervention group (105 patients), which included aerobic, strength, balance, and functional training, or an active control…

Read More

Editor's Note This study found a very large variability in the use of postoperative opioids in different countries. The study sample included 129,379 opioid-naïve patients in the US, 84,653 in Canada, and 9,802 in Sweden. More than 70% of surgical patients in the US (76.2%) and Canada (78.6%) filled opioid prescriptions…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study, robotic cholecystectomy was associated with lesser lengths of stay and readmission rates than laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The robotic procedure also had greater operative duration and hospital costs. Of 3,255 patients who had cholecystectomy during the study period, the researchers matched 106 robotic and 1,060 laparoscopic cases.…

Read More

Editor's Note This study finds that the amount of opioids prescribed for patients after cardiothoracic surgery has a direct relationship with the risk for opioid dependence and persistent opioid use several months after surgery. Of nearly 25,000 opioid-naïve Medicare patients analyzed, 15.7% of patients who had lung surgery and 12.5%…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on August 19 announced that it plans to update the quality measurement methodology of the Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings in 2021. The Star Ratings are located on CMS’ Hospital Compare website. While the new methodology is being finalized, CMS…

Read More