Uncategorized Editor's Note The growth in US healthcare spending from 2015 to 2025 is projected to average 5.8%--1.3% faster than growth in the gross domestic product, finds this study. Healthcare will represent 20.1% of the total economy by 2025. With the initial impact of the Affordable Care Act fading, growth in…
Editor's Note The Monticello Community Surgery Center, Charlottesville, Virginia, is posting prices of outpatient procedures on its website, the July 22 CBS 19 reports. The center’s CEO Andy Poole calls it the “wave of the future of healthcare.” Though the center takes insurance and Medicare, knowing the total cost of…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on July 26 issued a draft Unique Device Identification (UDI) guideline that requires most medical device labels and packages to bear a UDI in easily readable plain-text and automatic identification and data capture technology forms. UDIs must be issued under a system…
Editor's Note Despite “superbug” outbreaks and alerts issued in Europe, Japanese device manufacturer Olympus Corp told US executives in early 2013 not to issue a broad warning to American hospitals about potentially deadly infections from tainted duodenoscopes, the July 24 Los Angeles Times reports. At the time, Olympus was aware…
Editor's Note An automated text and voice messaging system improved communication about preventive steps orthopedic patients should take a week before surgery and the postoperative signs of infection to report in the 2 weeks after surgery. The system reminds patients to fill their prescriptions for antibiotic ointment and body wash…
Editor's Note A survey by the Joint Commission, American Hospital Association, and Federation of American Hospitals, finds that Medicare's new Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting program requirements for electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) are achievable, but organizations will need to address education, process, and technology hurdles to meet the deadline of…
Editor's Note Improving processes for ordering, transporting, and storing blood at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, resulted in $2 million in savings and a 30% reduction in blood utilization in a study presented as a poster presentation at the 2016 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program…
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are recommending using unique device identifiers (UDIs) in universal health insurance claims forms to improve value-based reimbursement for medical devices and postmarket surveillance, the July 14 Modern Healthcare reports. Proponents say UDIs could help…
Editor's Note Physicians are trying to adapt privacy concerns and requirements to meet patient requests that electronic health record (EHR) data be sent to their mobile apps, including fitness trackers, according to a report in the July 7 Healthcare IT News. Meaningful use and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization…
Editor's Note Patients who have bariatric surgery at nonaccredited bariatric surgical centers are 1.4 times likelier to have serious complications and more than twice as likely to die after the procedure compared to those who have surgery in accredited centers, this study finds. In this review of more than 1.5…
