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Editor's Note: Englewood, Colo,-based Leiters Health is voluntarily recalling 33 lots of vancomycin, phenylephrine, and fentanyl IV bags due to concerns that they may contain twice the labeled amount of drug, according to a January 8 safety alert from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “The semi-automated IV bag…
Editor's Note: Non-monetary compensation to physicians is limited to no more than $507 for calendar year 2024, according to a report on the federal Stark Law published December 27 in Lexology. The Stark Law applies to non-cash or cash-equivalent payments from hospitals, physician groups, labs and other provider entities. The…
Editor's Note: Fondoplication and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass are both viable choices for treating gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in patients with obesity, according to a recent study comparing the two procedures. Results were published December 27 in ScienceDirect. The study was based on a retrospective review of a prospectively maintained quality…
Editor's Note Nearly 200 members of Congress co-signed a letter urging House and Senate leaders to act quickly in order to prevent a 3.37% cut to Medicare reimbursement payments that was scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024. The American Medical Association, which supports the effort, reported the news…
Editor's Note The cost of COVID-19 hospital admissions increased at more than 5 times the rate of overall medical inflation as fewer patients died from the virus. The new study findings appeared in JAMA Network Open on January 3. The 26-percent increase in average costs to provide inpatient care occurred…
Editor's Note Published December 21, a year-long investigation by KFF Health News into medical device malfunctions found that the FDA allows the sale of most medical devices, including many implants, without requiring tests for safety or effectiveness. Instead, manufacturers need to show only that they have “substantial equivalence” to an…
Editor's Note The antibody shot Nirsevimab can protect infants from hospitalization from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The results from the new clinical trial were published December 28 in The New England Journal of Medicine. Affecting two of three children in their first year of life, RSV causes seasonal infection and,…
Editor's Note A near doubling of ransomware attacks on healthcare systems from 2022 to 2023 could point to a problematic trend, according to a January 2 report from cybersecurity firm Emsisoft. Specifically, findings show 46 ransomware attacks in 2023 compared to 25 in 2022 and 27 in 2021. The 2023…
Editor's Note A study published in BMJ Open is “the first to present an illustrative model of clinicians’ real-world decision making for managing DDIs,” the outlet reported on December 1. DDIs, or drug-drug interactions, are known to cause significant harm (including death), hundreds of thousands of patients hospitalized each year…
Editor's Note According to a new study from the University of Michigan, a surge in multiple respiratory viruses was associated with different pediatric acute care across emergency departments (EDs) across the state. The findings appeared in JAMA Network Open on December 7. The study used data from more than 2.7…
