Every year more than 1.5 million people develop sepsis in the United States, and at least 250,000 die as a result, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While deadly, sepsis is treatable – but only if caregivers’ response is rapid. Sepsis is the body’s extreme response to an infection – in the skin, lungs, urinary tract or somewhere else – which … [Read more...]

One in a million The probability that a random person in the population could look at your iPhone X and unlock it using Face ID is approximately 1 in 1,000,000 (versus 1 in 50,000 for Touch ID), says Apple in its Face ID Security white paper. Face ID allows only five unsuccessful match attempts before a passcode is required to obtain access to your iPhone. The probability of a … [Read more...]

Reflections of 2017 It is hard to believe I am writing the final Publisher’s Letter for 2017. My plan was to write about the stories we are covering in this issue, but here at the last minute I decided to recap the year. We spent much of this year writing about MACRA and how to use this payment reform as content to pull your customers closer to you by using it to help … [Read more...]

Cardinal Health announces leadership changes Cardinal Health (Dublin, OH) named Mike Kaufmann as the company’s next CEO and as a member of the board of directors, effective January 1, 2018. Kaufmann currently is the company’s CFO. He will succeed George Barrett, Cardinal Health's chairman and CEO since 2009, who will continue to serve as executive chairman of the board of … [Read more...]

Trends   What’s the impact of flu test reclassification? In February 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a final order reclassifying antigen-based RIDTs (rapid influenza virus antigen detection test systems) from Class I into Class II devices. The reclassification to Class II – a higher-risk designation – is intended to improve the quality of … [Read more...]

Leadership By Lisa Earle McLeod “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it’s the courage to continue that counts.” It was inspirational when Winston Churchill said it. But for most of us, mustering the courage to go on in the face of failure is not easy. My ancestors braved war and famine, but if my email goes down, I feel like I can’t cope. Intellectually you … [Read more...]

IDN Opportunities Editor’s note: This fall, Shaun Clinton, senior vice president, supply chain management, Texas Health Resources, was named one of “Ten People to Watch in Healthcare Contracting” by Repertoire’s sister publication – the Journal of Healthcare Contracting. At the Arlington, Texas-based IDN, Clinton leads a team of over 300 people who have responsibility for … [Read more...]

HIDA Government Affairs Update By Linda Rouse O’Neill, Vice President, Government Affairs Low-unit-of-measure (LUM) and just-in-time (JIT) programs are popular with providers, but they can create a headache for compliance with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) unique device identifier (UDI) rule. For example, a manufacturer may sell a product by the case, … [Read more...]

Healthy Reps Elevating social connection should be a public health priority, according to an article in a special issue of American Psychologist, the journal of the American Psychological Association. A robust body of scientific evidence suggests that being in high-quality close relationships and feeling socially connected are associated with decreased risk of mortality, … [Read more...]