Becker's ASC Review Editor-in-Chief Laura Dyrda laid out the three biggest stories from this past week in an episode of "Becker's Ambulatory Surgery Center Podcast."
This is a summary. Download the full podcast here.
Laura Dyrda: Here are the three biggest stories from the past week of Aug. 2-6.
1. States like Texas, Louisiana and Florida are watching carefully as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge largely among unvaccinated individuals. Many have not taken action, but they are standing ready to divert resources or taken extra elective procedures if necessary. Several hospitals and health systems in these states once again are delaying elective procedures to focus on COVID-19 patients.
2. Medscape released a report this week about the most common bad workplace behaviors and habits by physicians, finding physicians yelling and cursing at staff and patients as the number one issue. Survey participants also noted instances of surgeons filming videos or dancing while operating, showing images of patients without hiding their faces and pushing pyramid schemes on their colleagues or patients.
3. Finally, in this past week, physician groups and professional organizations have stepped up in specialties like spine, orthopedics and ophthalmology by pushing back against prior authorization policies by insurance companies. One key example is that ophthalmologists now are asking Congress to intervene in Aetna's cataract surgery policy that requires all patients to receive prior authorization before undergoing cataract procedures.