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Taking on the coronavirus with a new next-generation sequencing strategy
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareThe Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is closely monitoring an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a new coronavirus named 2019-nCoV. The outbreak first started in Wuhan, China, but cases have been identified in a growing number of other international locations, including the United States. In the meantime, to monitor how viruses like this one spread and evolve in animal populations, researchers are exploring next-generation sequencing (NGS). However, NGS can be costly and laborious, so geneticists are developing less expensive and more efficient NGS strategies.
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Study: Bacteria the cause of most infections in first year after solid…
Chelsea Adams Medical & Allied HealthcareIn the first year after transplant surgery, bacteria cause more than half of the infections that occur in solid organ transplant recipients. That's the result of a patient analysis conducted as part of the Swiss Transplant Cohort Study. The information is important since it allows transplant teams to prescribe appropriate immunosuppressant drugs. Following an organ transplant, three periods of infection have been identified.
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US employers add 225,000 jobs; unemployment ticks up to 3.6%
Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementIn January, U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew by a total of 225,000 after December's gain of 145,000, while the rate of unemployment rose to 3.6% from 3.5% the previous month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2019, the average monthly gain of jobs was 175,000. The total number of unemployed persons rose to 5.9 million in January from 5.8 million in December. January's data showed that unemployment among major worker groups experienced little or no change versus December's numbers.
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Hotspotting: The pros and cons of a key healthcare trend for 2020
Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare Administration"Hotspotting" is a new strategy in healthcare meant to reduce the medical expenses of the highest-cost patients in your system. The basic idea: "super-utilizers," or patients who have been admitted to a hospital three times in a brief time period, are identified. Using a range of healthcare team members, patients’ lifestyles and needs are analyzed to determine where their treatment costs can be cut without compromising their care. There are both pluses and minuses to consider. Take these considerations into account to see if hotspotting may be appropriate at your facility.
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Infographic: The future of health insurance for millennials and Gen Z
Brian Wallace Healthcare AdministrationThe way people work is changing, and that means how people access healthcare and buy health insurance is changing, too. But what are younger generations looking for in health insurance? Learn more with this infographic.
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Epic Systems wages interoperability war on CMS
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationThere's a major hubbub going on in healthcare right now regarding interoperability. This includes a campaign from the CEO of an EHR company to health system leaders encouraging them to rally against federal interoperability reform; tech giants telling the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to enforce its rules; and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma suggesting that some healthcare EHR vendors are attempting to protect "short-term profits." Where to start? In this case, we'll begin to break this drama down at the top — with the regulators, CMS.
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When a pandemic tests us in healthcare
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcarePandemics regularly challenge the global healthcare system. SARS certainly taught us some lessons, as did the H1N1 outbreak. Enter, stage left, the 2019-20 coronavirus. As this current viral threat circulates around the world — mostly via those who have recently been to the Wuhan area of China — the World Health Organization (WHO) is grappling with public relations, epidemiology, containment and quarantines, travel restrictions (and some outright bans), as well as deciding whether this is truly a pandemic or not.
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Workplace fatalities are at their highest levels since 2008. What’s…
Terri Williams Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementIn December 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics released workplace injury data from 2018. There were 5,250 fatal workplace injuries, which represents a 2% increase over 2017. This is also the highest amount since 2008, and it should be noted that from 2009-15, workplace fatalities were in the 4,500 to 4,600 range. Two particular causes of workplace fatalities increased significantly. Deaths from unintentional overdoses as a result of nonmedical consumption of drugs or alcohol while at work increased 12%. Work-related suicides increased by 11%.
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Transplant community offers widespread support for proposed federal rule…
Chelsea Adams Healthcare AdministrationChanges to federal policies governing living organ donors have widespread support among organ procurement agencies. The changes allow living organ donors to be reimbursed for missed work and the cost of child care. "These are bold steps that are going to have an immediate and lasting impact on our ability to serve patients who are on waiting lists," Dr. Seth Karp, director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center and surgeon-in-chief of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Modern Healthcare magazine.
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Red in February isn’t just for Valentine’s Day
Amanda Ghosh Medical & Allied HealthcareHeart disease is the single greatest threat to women's health. According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart disease is the leading cause of death amongst women; it's estimated that one in five will die from cardiovascular disease. Fortunately, the future doesn't need to be so bleak. The American Heart Association states that 80% of cardiac events are preventable so long as you're taking the proper steps to prevent them.
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