A study conducted by Johns Hopkins researchers estimates that 250,000 Americans die annually due to medical errors, nearly 100,000 more than those who die of respiratory disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that respiratory disease is the third leading cause of death in the nation.

The CDC uses the cause of death listed in a person’s death certificate to calculate the leading causes of mortality each year. The John Hopkins team says that since medical errors aren’t listed separately on death certificates, the CDC has been vastly underestimating their impact.

Over the last decade, suicide rates in the United States have been creepily skyward. In some states, the suicide rate is nearly twice the national average.

Suicide is the 10^th leading cause of death, according to statistics from the CDC, and in certain populations it is even more pervasive. From 2005 to 2014, the national suicide rate increased from 10.90 per 100,000 people to 12.93 per 100,000, and states like Montana and Alaska have rates of 23.8 and 21.97 respectively.

Among adolescents and young adults, suicide is a shockingly prevalent cause of death. In 2014, suicide was featured as the second leading cause of death in three different age groups (10-14, 15-24, and 25-34). For those ages 35-44 and 45-54, suicide was the fourth leading cause of death.

Patients who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups may be more likely than others to be readmitted after discharge—particularly if they have chronic conditions, such as pneumonia or heart failure or have suffered a heart attack. Many times, it’s social, cultural, or linguistic barriers that lead to those readmissions, according to the CMS Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH).

To help healthcare practitioners combat these issues and help minority patients improve their health, CMS OMH released the “Guide to Preventing Readmissions among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Medicare Beneficiaries.” It’s designed to help hospitals identify the reasons why readmissions occur among this group of patients and to find solutions to help prevent them.

In a highly-anticipated move expected to significantly affect the regulatory rules that hospitals and other healthcare facilities are held to, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has officially adopted the 2012 edition of the Life Safety Code® (LSC).

CMS has confirmed that the final rule adopts updated provisions of the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) 2012 edition of the LSC as well as provisions of the NFPA’s 2012 edition of the Health Care Facilities Code.

Healthcare providers affected by this rule must comply with all regulations by July 4—60 days from the publication date of the rule in the Federal Register.

The adoption of the rule has long been anticipated, as the LSC, which governs fire safety regulations in U.S. hospitals, is updated every three years, and CMS has not formally adopted a new update since 2003, when it adopted the 2000 edition. As a result, CMS surveyors have been holding healthcare facilities to different standards to other regulatory agencies that have gradually adopted provisions of the new LSC in their survey requirements.

Agency finds that hospitals struggle with data collection, identifying evidence-based practices, and implementation strategies.

A recent report from a federal watchdog agency offers new insight into the barriers hospitals still face when it comes to addressing patient safety concerns, offering a concise distillation of the key gaps that remain in ongoing efforts to prevent patient harm.

Officials at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) interviewed patient safety experts at six hospitals and six insurers, as well as officials at CMS and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The six hospitals were selected according to their performance in certain patient safety quality measures.