Becker's Hospital Review

146 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Top 10 states for critical access hospital performance, ranked by HRSA By Alia Paavola T he federal Health Resourc- es & Services Administra- tion ranked Virginia the best state in the U.S. for the per- formance and reporting quality of its critical access hospitals. Every year, the HHS agency re- sponsible for improving health- care access for the uninsured, isolated and medically vulnera- ble recognizes the 10 top states with the highest reporting rates and improvement for critical ac- cess hospitals in the last year. The list is part of the agency's Medicare Beneficiary Quality Im- provement Project. Through the project, the agency works with more than 1,350 critical access hospitals in 45 states to report quality measures. Critical access hospitals report data in patient safety, outpatient care, patient engagement and care transitions. The performance outcomes and quality reporting in those areas determine the list. The top 10 states for 2020: 1. Virginia 2. South Carolina 3. Wisconsin 4. Idaho 5. Michigan 6. Georgia 7. Nebraska 8. Massachusetts 9. Illinois 10. Utah n Deep-cleaning priority is misplaced in stopping coronavirus spread, scientists say By Anuja Vaidya A s businesses reopen across the country, the focus is on deep cleaning and sanitization is top of mind, but this could be a waste of time as surface transmission does not appear to be as big a threat as once thought, according to e Atlantic. Businesses, particularly restaurants and gyms, are making a big to-do about cleaning, appointing sani- tation czars and advertising their cleaning practices. New York City even closed down its subway system to deep clean the seats, walls and poles with antiseptics. But this might not be helping curb the spread of the new coronavirus at all. e CDC updated its guide- lines in May to say that surface transmission "isn't thought to be the main way the virus spreads." Another scientist, Emanuel Goldman, PhD, a microbi- ology professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark told e Atlantic: "Surface transmission of COVID-19 is not justified at all by the science." In an article published in e Lancet, Dr. Goldman said that previous studies showing how long the virus can live on different surfaces assumed an unrealisti- cally high concentration of the virus. By and large scientists agree that the virus prima- ry spread through the air through droplets expelled when a person sneezes or coughs or via aerosolized droplets expelled during conversations. Surface transmission appears to be rare, though sci- entists that spoke to e Atlantic emphasized that hand-washing is still important. But the focus on surface decontamination can have unintended negative consequences, including "pre- vention fatigue," Dr. Goldman told e Atlantic. "ey're exhausted by all the information we're throw- ing at them," he said. "We have to communicate prior- ities clearly; otherwise, they'll be overloaded." Also, an overemphasis on sanitation leads to a false sense of security, as restaurants and gyms can con- tinually clean their premises and equipment, but that does nothing to curb virus spread via people talking or coughing, according to e Atlantic. n Readmission after COVID-19 hospitalization uncommon at NYC health system, study shows By Anuja Vaidya R eadmission after being hospitalized for COVID-19 and dis- charged was infrequent, an analysis of patients at a New York City-based health system found. Researchers examined data of 2,864 patients with COVID-19 who were treated and discharged from five hospitals within the Mount Si- nai Health System between Feb. 27 and April 12. Of the 2,864 patients studied, 103 (3.6 percent) returned for emer- gency care within 14 days of hospital discharge. Fifty-six of those who returned were readmitted to the hospital. The most common reason for return was respiratory distress (50 percent). Compared with patients who did not return, there were higher pro- portions of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension among those who returned. Patients who returned also had a shorter median length of stay during their first hospitalization. The researchers published their findings in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. n

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