Periop Pulse Health policy organization KFF on Friday published an updated study that finds just one or two health systems controlled the entire market for inpatient hospital care in nearly half of U.S. metropolitan areas in 2024. “Consolidation may allow providers to operate more efficiently and help struggling providers keep their doors open…
The Hartford Courant reports that an unclothed patient under anesthesia for outpatient surgery at Yale New Haven Health Bridgeport Hospital was allegedly photographed by a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) in the surgical suite, according to a lawsuit filed in Superior Court. Even more alarmingly, the patient allegedly wasn’t even under…
Arkansas news organization Talk Business & Politics reports that Little Rock-based Baptist Health plans to “end hospital operations” at 492-bed Baptist Health-Fort Smith with the exception of “emergency room and possibly limited surgery services.” Additionally, it reports that “some or all” of the hospital’s existing physician agreements “may” expire June 29,…
A new narrative review study posted Monday on Cureus, “Patients With Obesity on the Acute Care Surgery Service: Improving Outcomes,” posits that obesity now “represents a defining characteristic of the emergency general surgery (EGS) population," and that many clinicians and health systems need to account for this reality in their care…
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reports that some rural hospitals in the state are suffering from a “Medicare billing snafu” that is “generating steep financial hardships” for the already struggling facilities. The report says hospital leaders have been “vexed by a recent payment processing change” by CMS that is “effectively holding…
Marshall Health Network (MHN) announced it is “aligning its systemwide surgical capabilities” with the creation of a new "surgical services service line" that it says will be “designed to strengthen coordination, quality and growth across surgical programs throughout the health system.” Anesthesiologist Anthony Dempsey, MD, was named MHN’s physician executive…
A recent study by researchers at Bon Secours Tuckahoe Orthopedics of Richmond, Va., examined whether the personal cloth scrub caps that some surgeons like to wear in the OR could put patients at greater risk of surgical site infections. The study, published in the journal Patient Safety in Surgery, examined the…
National Nurses United (NNU), which identifies itself as the nation’s largest union of RNs with more than 225,000 members, was scheduled to bring its nationwide Red Alert tour to Alameda (Calif.) Hospital on Saturday. It would be the third stop on the tour, which visits a community hospital on a…
The fact that many U.S. hospitals and health systems are in financially fragile positions is widely acknowledged. New reports from Strata Decision Technology, which offers cloud-based business decision support, offer quantitative confirmation of this trend, finding that rising expenses and decreasing revenue, including upcoming reimbursement changes and policy changes, are…
PeritasAI, a developer of “intelligent robotic systems within hospital settings,” has announced a partnership with AdventHealth to “explore how advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging humanoid robotics can strengthen surgical operations and improve the experience for patients and care teams.” The partnership’s primary focus will be on how “intelligent systems,”…
