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 blog post by health policy, consulting, and lobbying firm McDermott+ dives into the recently released annual report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the nonpartisan independent legislative branch agency that provides the U.S. Congress with analysis and policy advice on the Medicare program -- with a particular focus on…
Newspaper The Sun Chronicle reports on plans to build a joint-venture, single-specialty orthopedic ASC at Reservoir Landing, a shopping and business center in Mansfield, Mass. Sturdy Health – University Orthopedics Center for Orthopedic Surgery, a joint venture between Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, Mass., and University Orthopedics, would join neighbors at…
A recent Philadelphia Inquirer article takes a close look at the emergence of cardiovascular ASCs in its region. The title: “New Philadelphia-area cardiovascular surgery centers are pulling profitable procedures from hospitals and charging less.” The article notes that Pennsylvania is the first Northeastern U.S. state to allow the practice, and…
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,”…
