Healthcare

COVID-19 herd immunity likely unattainable, experts say

By Erica Carbajal for Becker’s Hospital Review Early in the COVID-19 crisis, herd immunity, occurring when most of a population has immunity based on prior infection or vaccination, was considered a way out of the pandemic. Now, experts are saying such a threshold is unattainable, The New York Times reported May 3. That’s in part due to the…

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Poor EHR usability linked to nurse burnout, patient mortality and readmission: study

By Jackie Drees for Becker’s Hospital Review EHR usability issues are being associated with nurse burnout, which can lead to higher rates of surgical patient mortality and readmissions, according to a recent study published in the journal Medical Care. For the study, a team of University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing researchers analyzed data on 343…

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CMS star ratings are out: 4 things to know

By Erica Carbajal for Becker’s Hospital Review CMS updated its Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings on its Hospital Compare website April 28. The updated ratings are based on CMS’ revised methodology. Four things to know: 1. CMS’ star rating system, launched in 2016, assigns stars based on 48 measures in the following five categories: mortality, safety of care,…

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10 most common passwords used by healthcare employees

By Jackie Drees for Becker’s Hospital Review When it comes to preferred passwords among healthcare industry employees, many are choosing weak options that can make their employer hospital or health system organization vulnerable to cyberattacks, according to an April 20 NordPass report. For its analysis, NordPass, a password manager for B2B and B2C clients, partnered…

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Federal sepsis guidelines largely ineffective, UPMC study finds

By Mackenzie Bean for Becker’s Hospital Review The care bundle CMS implemented in 2015 to improve outcomes for sepsis patients did not lead to significant improvements at Pittsburgh-based UPMC, according to a Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine analyzed EHR data from 54,224 visits of adult patients at 11…

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Over-the-counter COVID-19 tests now at CVS, Walgreens

By Maia Anderson for Becker’s Hospital Review Both CVS and Walgreens are now offering COVID-19 tests over-the-counter. CVS said April 19 it is offering three types of tests in stores and online — the Ellume COVID-19 home test, Abbott’s BinaxNOW COVID-19 antigen self-test, and Labcorp’s Pixel PCR test home collection kit. All three tests are available without…

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Applying Artificial Intelligence to Predictive Analytics Can Save Lives

By Shalini Sahai for For the Record What better time in history to challenge the medical community to find better ways to manage life-threatening diseases than during a pandemic? My recent work in this area focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) across the continuum of hospital admissions, laboratory tests, diagnosis, pharmacy, therapeutics, and suggested treatments…

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Molding Tomorrow’s HIT Professionals

By Susan Chapman, MA, MFA, PGYT for For the Record As the health care industry continues to evolve, an important question has come to the forefront: How is higher education addressing the demands and changes while also producing prospective employees who will become reliable contributors upon graduation? Addressing Industry Demands Peter Winkelstein, MD, Kaleida Health’s…

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8 women making moves in healthcare leadership

By Kelly Gooch for Becker’s Hospital Review The following leadership moves by women have been reported since Feb. 26: Nwando Anyaoku, MD, was chosen as the first chief health equity officer of Seattle-based Swedish Health Services. Cristina Contreras was named CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan in New York City. Stephanie Fendrick was named executive vice president…

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