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The government paused its processing of new visa applications until fiscal 2025, leaving thousands of international nurses in limbo as they look to fill health systems’ pervasive staffing gaps. Each year, a pool of around 8,600 eligible, internationally educated nurses compete with other professionals that have bachelor’s-level degrees for 40,000 employment-based visa slots. (Devereaux, 6/20)

Providers are relying on out-of-the-box thinking to navigate historically high labor costs that show no sign of easing. Hospitals, health systems and other providers are investing billions of dollars to attract and retain the talent they need. Inflation and higher wage expectations are driving up costs, and contract workers remain necessary in some markets to fill care gaps. Meanwhile, a limited supply of workers is stoking fierce competition between healthcare organizations and with other industries. (Hudson, 6/20)

Rates of emergency medical services encounters for firearm injuries spiked in 2021 to more than 25% over 2019 levels, but they began to fall in the following years. However, rates were still higher in 2023 than before the Covid-19 pandemic began, a new study says. (Christensen, 6/20)

AI-powered alerts that warn doctors when their patients’ conditions are in danger of deteriorating could save lives, according to researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. How so? Researchers divided 2,740 Mount Sinai medical-surgical unit patients into two groups. ... Patients in the AI intervention group were 43 percent more likely to receive a more rapid response and care, including medicine to support their hearts and blood circulation, and were less likely to die within 30 days compared with the control group. (Svirnovskiy, Schumaker, Payne and Reader, 6/20)

Andy Harris has a line he likes to give his House colleagues when the issue of outside employment is raised. “I tell members, tongue-in-cheek, that I could flip burgers at McDonald’s and earn additional income. But I can’t do it practicing my profession,” said the Maryland Republican, an anesthesiologist by training, in a recent interview. He’s mostly right. (Papp, 6/20)