Editor's Note With executive-level turnover and regulatory pressures on the rise, infection preventionists (IPs) should be elevated to executive-level roles to prevent a missed professional opportunity and potential structural weakness in health care governance, according to Deborah Ellis, PhD, MS, MPH, MT(ASCP), CIC, LTC-CIP, CPHQ, FACHE in a November 13…
Editor's Note Fifteen states and territories are banding together to rebuild the nation’s weakened public health infrastructure as federal support falters, CIDRAP October 17 reports from October 15 Wall Street Journal coverage. According to the news, Democratic governors have launched the Governors Public Health Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit effort to…
Editor's Note Sweeping layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have gutted the agency’s ability to track overdoses, injuries, and violent deaths, Axios October 15 reports. The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, once a cornerstone of public health surveillance, now operates with roughly one-third of…
Editor's Note The dismantling of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) jeopardizes worker safety nationwide and risks reversing decades of progress, New England Journal of Medicine October 4 reports. In April, sweeping federal workforce reductions eliminated more than 80% of NIOSH staff, closing laboratories and freezing core…
Editor's Note Following yesterday’s update on the impact of the federal government shutdown on telehealth and Affordable Care Act disruptions, the shutdown is also straining military health systems, biomedical research, and disease prevention programs, creating ripple effects for patient care and surgical innovation, Politico October 1 reports. While Medicare, Medicaid,…
Editor's Note A federal shutdown has halted critical healthcare programs, disrupted Medicare telehealth and hospital-at-home coverage, and escalated partisan conflict over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid, multiple outlets report, including HealthLeaders October 1 and KFF Health News. The budget impasse reportedly is leaving both patients and providers in…
Editor's Note Medical and scientific groups across the US and abroad swiftly pushed back against President Donald Trump’s September 22 announcement that acetaminophen use in pregnancy may cause autism, with experts warning the claims are unsupported and potentially harmful. Trump, joined by HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, also suggested…
Editor's Note Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to overhaul drug development, with DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis predicting that discovery timelines could shrink from more than a decade to just months. In a September 13 article from the Times of India, Hassabis described how AI models can identify drug candidates faster,…
Editor's Note Medicare patients treated in hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) present with greater socioeconomic and clinical complexity than peers seen in independent physician offices, including higher prior emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient use. According to an American Hospital Association (AHA) study conducted by KNG Health Consulting and published on…
Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has partnered with Lifesaving Technologies to expand access to emergency response equipment and training across the US, the ACS announced on September 3. The collaboration builds on the ACS Stop the Bleed program, which has already trained more than 5 million people…