The introduction of genomics was a significant advance in the battle against cancer. The ability to understand how specific genes predict the likelihood of acquiring cancer or the success of a particular therapy added a new degree of precision and reliability to diagnosis and treatment.

Radiomics is poised to be the next great advance. This relatively new technology enables healthcare and life science organizations to take traditional images, such as MRIs and PET scans, and use artificial intelligence to extract hundreds of data points about the biology of a tumor or lesion. By comparing this newly available data to past images, as well as the biology of healthy organs, clinicians can gain a much deeper, ongoing understanding of how the tumor or lesion is responding to a specific therapy, informing their care and treatment decisions along every step. Here’s how it works throughout a patient’s cancer journey.

The hazard communication standard (29 CFR 1910.1200)—sometimes referred to as the HazCom standard or “worker right-to-know”—remains one of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) most frequently cited standards.

The HazCom standard was the second most frequently cited workplace safety standard for fiscal year (FY) 2020, with 3,199 violations.

Employers must have a written HazCom program to meet requirements of the standard. A written HazCom program establishes all aspects of the program, like the use of labels and safety data sheets (SDS) and employee information and training. Employers must provide employee access to SDSs in addition to training on understanding the hazard and precautionary information contained in labels and SDSs.

It is imperative for healthcare organizations to address physician burnout, the chief medical officer of a Dallas-based clinically integrated network says.

Burnout is one of the top challenges facing physician and other healthcare workers nationwide. A report published in September by The Physicians Foundation found that the coronavirus pandemic has worsened physician burnout. Research published in September 2018 indicated that nearly half of physicians across the country were experiencing burnout symptoms.

“Burnout is real. If we do not address the causes of burnout, we are going to lose good providers, and we cannot afford that as a country,” says Jason Fish, MD, senior vice president and CMO of Southwestern Health Resources in Dallas. The clinically integrated network features nearly 5,000 physicians and advanced practice providers.

In the Federal Register last summer, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made a significant move that impacts Joint Commission surveys.

On July 17, 2020, in Volume 85, Number 138 under the section “Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Application From the Joint Commission for Continued Approval of its Hospital Accreditation Program,” CMS indicated that The Joint Commission (TJC) has taken steps to “[clarify and provide] additional training to surveyors related to survey processes and procedures for review of credentialing and human resources and or personnel file reviews.”

And under Section B, “Term of Approval,” CMS approved The Joint Commission (TJC) as a national accreditation organization for hospitals that request participation in the Medicare program, but only for two years: through July 15, 2022. Approval is traditionally a longer term than two years.

“This shorter term of approval is based on our concerns related to the comparability of TJC's survey processes to those of CMS, as well as what CMS has observed of TJC's performance on the survey observation,” CMS officials wrote in the Federal Register. “Some of these concerns stem from the level of detail TJC provides in the daily briefings it provides to facilities, as well as TJC's processes surrounding its staff interview practices. Additionally, we are concerned about TJC's review of medical records and surveying off-site locations, in particular for the Physical Environment condition of participation.”

As the public health emergency (PHE) winds down, resist the urge to return to the way you did things before the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in your outlying clinics and ambulatory care sites.

Identify the creative solutions to workflow, hand hygiene, and personal protective equipment (PPE) use that worked during the PHE and find ways to improve on them, says Kris Kilgore, RN, BSN, administrative director of Surgical Care of Michigan in Grand Rapids, which specializes in ophthalmologic procedures.

Kilgore is also a surveyor on the faculty and vice chair of the accreditation committee for the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Healthcare (AAAHC). She spoke with Inside Accreditation & Quality (IAQ) in April, and in March she taught a session on infection prevention and control (IPC) during AAAHC’s Achieving Accreditation virtual conference in March together with faculty member Karen Connolly, RN, MSN.

The pandemic has forever changed the way healthcare organizations work. “We feel as an organization some things will never go back,” Kilgore told IAQ. “We’re never going to see our waiting room jammed.”