Today’s Top Story
CDC, FDA issue advisory regarding maintenance and cleaning of reusable medical devices.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are alerting healthcare providers and facilities about the public health need to properly maintain, clean, and disinfect or sterilize reusable medical devices. The agencies state that recent infection control lapses due to noncompliance with recommended reprocessing procedures highlight a critical gap in patient safety. The agencies are urging healthcare facilities that use reusable medical devices to immediately review current reprocessing practices to ensure they comply with all steps as directed by the device manufacturers and to have appropriate policies and procedures consistent with current standards and guidelines in place. Read more…
Read the advisory…
Other News
ICD-10 transition just 2 weeks away.
An article in The New York Times reports on the upcoming transition to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition (ICD-10). The writer notes that the ICD-10 code set includes 68,000 diagnostic codes, an increase from 14,000 in ICD-9, and that the number of codes for inpatient hospital procedures will expand from 4,000 to 87,000. All Medicare and Medicaid claims with dates of service of Oct. 1, 2015, or later will be required to be submitted using a valid ICD-10 code. Read more…
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released ICD-10: Clinical Concepts for Orthopedics—part of a series of guides that include common ICD-10 codes, clinical documentation tips, and a series of example clinical scenarios to familiarize providers with coding under ICD-10. Read the guide (PDF)…
Find more resources from the AAOS…(member login required)
Study: PNBs linked to improved pain management after surgery for tibia and ankle fracture.
Findings published in the September issue of the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma (JOT) suggest that patients who receive peripheral nerve blocks (PNBs) as part of an analgesic protocol for surgical repair of tibia and ankle fractures may experience better postoperative pain management than those who do not. The researchers conducted a prospective cohort study of 93 consecutive patients who underwent surgical repair of ankle and tibia fractures at a single center. They found that, compared to patients who did not receive regional anesthesia, patients who received PNBs had increased satisfaction with pain management, spent less time in severe pain during the first 24 hours postoperative, and had higher overall perception of pain relief. Overall, average pain scores over 24 hours were similar between the two cohorts. Read the abstract…
Study: No significant difference in the use of locked or non-locked plates for the repair of high-energy pilon fracture.
A study published in the September issue of JOT finds no significant difference in the use of locked or non-locked plates for the repair of high-energy pilon fracture. The authors conducted a randomized, prospective trial of 33 patients with AO/OTA types A, B, and C tibial pilon fractures. The authors found no significant difference between cohorts in mechanism or injury pattern, average patient age, ratio of males to females, tourniquet time, operative time, interval to surgery, Ankle-Hindfoot Scale, or Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment scores. Overall, one of 15 fractures in the locked plate group had lost reduction at latest follow-up, compared to three of 19 fractures in the nonlocked group. Read the abstract…
FDA: Funding for House version of 21st Century Cures Act falls short of mandates.
FDA has raised concerns that a bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives may lack sufficient funding for the agency to carry out the bill’s mandates. The 21st Century Cures Act seeks to encourage innovation in medicine by increasing funding for research and expediting the approval of new devices and drugs. “Our concern continues to be the costs associated with doing the things we’re being asked to do in that bill,” states the acting commissioner of FDA. “We were certainly happy with the fact that there were funds dedicated for FDA; our estimation is that the funds available are not necessarily going to cover everything we’re expected to do.” A similar bill is currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate. Read more…
NIAMS launches website targeted at Spanish-speaking population.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced the launch of a new Spanish language website for the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease (NIAMS). NIH notes that traffic to NIAMS’ Spanish-language content represents about 50 percent of its total visits in a given month. To meet this high demand, the new site features quick and easy navigation tools to help Spanish-speaking individuals identify and locate NIAMS health topics. Read more…
Visit the Spanish language site…
New Jersey.
The New Jersey Law Journal reports that an appeals court has ruled that a surgical center assigned rights to payment by patients does have standing to sue an insurance company under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). At issue were three cases in which patients assigned rights to payment, but the insurer refused to pay the claims. The court determined that assignment of the right to payment improves access to health care by allowing physicians to treat patients without requiring them to prove their ability to pay prior to obtaining treatment. The appeals court decision reverses a lower court ruling. Read more…(registration may be required)
Read the complete decision (PDF)…
AAOS to host webinar on CCJR model.
AAOS has announced a free webinar to assist members with understanding the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CCJR) model. CCJR is a CMS proposed rule under which the agency would bundle payment and quality measures for hip and knee arthroplasty at hospitals in 75 randomly selected geographic areas. Most hospitals in those regions would be required to participate. Under the proposal, the hospital in which the procedure is performed would be accountable for costs associated with the entire episode of care, from the time of surgery through 90 days postoperative. The webinar will take place Sept. 29, at 7:15 p.m. CT. Read more…
