How Automation Helped Weather the Pandemic and Beyond
The Steele Institute’s automation team focuses on delivering business processes that offer measurable benefits for partners, constant improvement, and a scalable platform that consistently decreases delivery times. There are plenty of hurdles when introducing a new technology, particularly one involving automation—and one of those hurdles is how to best utilize the technology.
Tracking Trends in Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship
We’ve reached a moment in time where many officials are rolling back mitigation efforts like masking, testing, and rules about gathering. The CDC has updated its guidance to measure community risk for COVID-19 through three primary metrics: new cases, new hospitalizations for COVID-19, and current hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. These metrics underscore the importance of leveraging in-depth data to assemble a more detailed view of near-term risk that goes beyond case numbers.
Extensive Patient Candidate Evaluation Key Element of New Long COVID Clinic
AdventHealth opened the health system’s Post-COVID Clinic in March. Determining whether patients have long COVID and characterizing their symptomology requires an exhaustive evaluation process, says Dwayne Gordon, MD, an AdventHealth Medical Group internal medicine physician and lead physician of the Post-COVID Clinic, which is based at AdventHealth Orlando.
CMS Revises COVID-19 Data Reporting for Psychiatric, Rehabilitation Hospitals
The memo QSO-21-03-Hospitals/CAHs was updated May 27 to note that the data elements for psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals that had been required weekly is now required only once annually and should include the data for the previous week, according to CMS.
PSQH Quick Poll 2022: Taking the Pulse of Nursing’s Impact on Patient Safety
As part of National Nurses Week, PSQH reached out to our readers with a few questions about how nursing impacts patient safety and healthcare quality. The Quick Poll had a total of 212 respondents.
DNV Updates Requirements on Medical Exemptions for COVID-19 Vaccine
Check any medical exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccination that your facility approved before the CMS requirements for hospitals went into effect, says DNV Healthcare officials.
How COVID Impacted At-Home Care and Monitoring
Transitions of care went through a massive transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ensuring patients moved safely between environments while remaining in-network became more complex with the needs and challenges of a mid-pandemic world, and avoiding readmissions and patient leakage became paramount. How has the industry risen to these growing changes, and what lies before us as the world strives to find a post-pandemic reality?
Hospitals Urge OSHA to Drop COVID-19 Rulemaking
The AHA voiced its opposition to establishing a permanent standard not aligned with evolving evidence-based guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The group suggested a permanent standard could create confusion, lower employee morale, and worsen healthcare staffing shortages.
In First Year of Coronavirus Pandemic, U.S. Life Expectancy Fell by 1.87 Years
In 2020, there were more deaths from COVID-19 in the United States than any other country, and Americans had relatively high COVID-19 mortality rates. Before the pandemic, the United States had one of the lowest life expectancy rates among high-income countries.
COVID-19 PHE is Renewed Through July 15
CMS continues to gradually end some emergency blanket waivers allowed under the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for some providers, but for now the 1135 waivers remain intact for acute care and critical access hospitals. The current 90-day PHE declaration was renewed and posted online Wednesday, and is effective through July 15.