Cardinal Health Announces Recall for 9.1M Surgical Gowns
An investigation by the Dublin, Ohio-based medical supplier determined that some gowns were produced in unapproved locations with improper environmental conditions, were not registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and did not pass Cardinal Health standards.
CDC: First Case of Wuhan Coronavirus Confirmed in U.S.
The patient is a Washington resident who returned to the U.S. from China on January 15 and sought care at a medical facility in Washington. Based on the patient’s travel history and symptoms, healthcare professionals suspected the new coronavirus. A specimen was collected and sent to the CDC, where laboratory testing confirmed the diagnosis. The CDC said it has been preparing for the U.S. arrival of 2019-nCoV for weeks, including:
Improving Hospital Patient Safety: Six Basic Principles to Guide Our Pursuit
Most Americans encounter the healthcare system in their first seconds of life, as they emerge into the world at one of our birthing hospital units. For many, their last seconds are also spent as a patient in a hospital. Nationally, healthcare appears to be delivered at a 2%–4% error rate, with over 18 million adverse events occurring per year. Yet despite two decades of intensive quality improvement work at hospitals, little has changed for the better.
Full Transparency Is the Key to Stopping Drug Diversion in Healthcare Settings
Drug diversion costs the healthcare industry more than $70 billion per year, according to one estimate, and some researchers say as many as 10% of all medical professionals will divert drugs from their workplace at some point in their career.
Payer Engagement Platforms Help Empower Healthcare Consumers to Take Greater Control of their Health
With healthcare becoming top of mind due to national policy debates and beneficiaries bearing more of their own costs, many consumers want to confidently navigate the healthcare system and to know that they are making better decisions about their health and their cost of care.
Data Analytics Utilization ‘Negligible’ Among 80% of Healthcare Orgs
The research found that 95% of hospitals and physician group executives have access to data analytics applications, up 32% since 2016, but most don’t utilize these decision-making tools. Eighty-four percent of C-suite officers at provider organizations reported that the only used data analytics to a “limited or minimal extent.”
OSHA Raises Its Civil Penalties for 2020 by Nearly 2%
For a willful violation, in which an employer knowingly failed to comply with an OSHA standard or demonstrated a plain indifference for employee safety, the minimum penalty increases from $9,472 to $9,639 and the maximum penalty increases from $132,598 to $134,937;
Target Long-Term Emergency Room Frequent Users to Curb Visits and Cut Costs
The recent research article, which was published in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, identified four subgroups of ED frequent users: short-term, heart-related, long-term, and minor care. Frequent ED users were defined as making at least four emergency room visits in a year-long period.
Medicaid Expansion Linked to Fewer Opioid Deaths
Researchers NYU Grossman School of Medicine and University of California, Davis, analyzed cause-of-death data from the National Vital Statistics System from 3,109 counties nationwide between 2001 and 2017.
Study: Antibiotics Use to Blame for C. diff Infections
The study, published September 16, 2019 in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, found that higher hospitalwide use of four classes of antibiotics thought to increase the risk of the dangerous intestinal illness C. diff was associated with greater prevalence of hospital-associated C. diff.