US Food and Drug Administration regulation and review is noted as having gaps in process that can affect patient safety. This article discusses reasons for the reluctance of physicians to fully embrace the use of artificial intelligence tools approved by the FDA in their practice. The concerns include lax regulation, poor product development transparency and lack of robust real-world accuracy data.

The infectious nature of COVID continues to impact the safety of hospitalized patients. This article series examines factors contributing to hospital-acquired COVID-19 infection that include weaknesses in oversight, patient legal protections, and documentation.

Nosocomial infection is a primary concern due to the COVID pandemic. This news story examines instances when inpatients contracted, and sometimes died of, COVID-19 while receiving care for a different condition. It summarizes the challenges associated with collecting adequate data that completely document nosocomial spread of COVID-19 and its impact on patient outcomes.

… , which could expose the process to distractions. … Jewett C, Lupkin S. Health Shots. National Public Radio. …

Transparency has been heralded as a cornerstone to improvement in health care. This news article reports on a government alternative summary reporting program that allowed medical device makers to conceal safety events and malfunction reports associated with medical devices. A new program that expands access to information about device-related failures will be put in place.

High-profile failures during office-based procedures have raised awareness of the potential safety hazards of surgery centers and the need for improved oversight. This news article reports on safety events in ambulatory surgical centers and insufficiencies in incident reporting and analysis. Enhanced transparency regarding those failures can enable informed patient decision-making when choosing care providers.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decision to withhold payment for certain hospital-acquired conditions has prompted widespread efforts to prevent such events. This news article reports on an evaluation by the Office of Inspector General that found regulator review of hospital-acquired infection reports submitted to Medicare to be insufficient, which hinders hospitals' ability to learn from factors that contribute to infections.