RVS rates rise, pose threat to children

“Tripledemic” is not a word anyone wanted in their lexicon, but it’s one being used to describe a triple threat of respiratory disease this winter—COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) .

A Florida health system is putting social determinants of health (SDOH) right into the electronic health record problem list, where doctors can see and act on them.

Spearheading this initiative is Jennifer Goldman, DO, chief of Memorial Primary Care at the six-hospital Memorial Healthcare System, based in Hollywood, Florida. In this interview with HealthLeaders, Goldman explains how SDOH is embedded in the EHR and used to improve outcomes. This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

CMS has finalized the rural emergency hospital (REH) as a new provider type in the hopes of helping rural areas keep much needed healthcare services as hospitals continue to close.

Two topics are on the rise in terms of potential impact on our facilities: electric vehicles and water threats.

This is the second installment of a two-part article where security leader Robert Nordby catches up with HLSC and looks at ways to prevent and mitigate active shooter events at healthcare facilities.

The FBI defines an “active shooter” as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” In 2021, the FBI identified 61 shootings as active shooter events, including one in a healthcare setting. Though the numbers may seem to indicate healthcare is still at low risk, active shooter events do happen, and healthcare security leaders must be prepared.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a lasting impact on healthcare, and its burden on the medical system and healthcare workers (HCW) has led to negative patient safety consequences. Numerous publications have detailed how the pandemic has alarmingly eroded our decade of former progress in reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAI) (Lastinger et al., 2022) and how staffing issues continue to play a role in HAIs (Halverson et al., 2022; Clifford et al., 2022).

Presentations at the annual Executive Briefing held by The Joint Commission (TJC) are designed to provide key information for hospital leaders, but sometimes there are as many questions as answers afterward.

Review your Environment of Care (EC) and Life Safety (LS) policies and procedures now that The Joint Commission has issued another round of revisions, effective January 1, 2023.

All signs point to a turbulent 2022–2023 winter season, according to an AccuWeather projection. While winter comes every year, the impact of climate change, volcanic eruptions, and other factors mean facilities can’t be complacent.