Quality and Safety

Quality and safety concerns both routine clinical and managerial practices and research focusing on patient safety and quality of care. Specific topic areas include drug information programs, safe administration of patient medication, overuse or misuse of procedures that are not medically necessary, underuse of beneficial services and mistakes leading to patient injury - including the 28 so-called Never Events outlined by the National Quality Forum in 2001 and revised in 2006.

RELATED STORIES:
ACP: Quality measures key to meaningful use
Health IT panel scrutinizes 2013 quality measures
 

 
The California eHealth Quality program is offering $1 million in grants for physicians, clinics and hospitals in rural California to add health information exchange technologies and meet federal meaningful use standards.
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May 21, 2013
News
Transparency is a touchy subject in healthcare. It's one of the last market strongholds desperately clutching to its principles of secrecy, and it won't go down without a fight. But many experts say this stands as one of many reasons the industry continues to drag its feet in the innovation arena.
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May 21, 2013
News
VHA, a nationwide healthcare network of 1,400 not-for-profit healthcare organizations that work to boost clinical performance while reducing costs, has cut a deal with Phytel to help its members tackle population management.
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May 20, 2013
News
There are buzz phrases, and then there are buzz phrases. And if there's one phrase that has permeated the healthcare sector more thoroughly than all the others, it's probably "accountable care." But what exactly does it mean? Or, more to the point for healthcare providers, how do you know when you're actually providing it?
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May 20, 2013
News
Several organized physician groups are beta testing URAC's new clinical integration accreditation program standards. The independent standards organization created the new program to serve as a road map for health providers to achieve clinical integration and accountable care. By earning URAC accreditation, providers will demonstrate they are delivering improved patient care and reducing costs.
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May 17, 2013
News
Marilyn Tavenner's confirmation as official administrator of CMS immediately drew positive reactions from nearly every corner of the industry and government, as several healthcare stakeholders reacted to the 91-7 landslide Senate vote that took place late Wednesday. Tavenner is the first administrator in nine years to receive Senate confirmation.
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May 16, 2013
News
Nearly $1 billion in new Health Care Innovation Awards from the Department of Health & Human Services will fund applicants that have a high likelihood of driving healthcare system transformation and delivering better outcomes. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced this second round of funding May 15.
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May 16, 2013
News
Growth opportunities are emerging in new more efficient and innovative business models as the Affordable Care Act produces a dramatic shift in healthcare delivery and payment, according to financial executives participating in a recent panel. The investment experts also said they anticipate merger and acquisition activity to pick up later this year.
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May 16, 2013
News
HIMSS Media launched a global online community Monday dedicated to chronicling new and innovative models of care that improve individual and community well-being, while also reducing healthcare costs.
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May 14, 2013
News
Status quo doesn't sit well with the innovation team at Boston Children's Hospital. Being consistently ranked one of the nation's top hospitals is no easy task -- especially in the innovation arena. But Naomi Fried, the hospital's chief innovation officer, and her Innovation Acceleration Program dream team have risen to the challenge with the creation of four new mobile health apps.
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May 13, 2013
News
Kaiser Permanente Northwest has become the latest member to join the Oregon Health Network, a national rural healthcare pilot program and subsidiary of OCHIN, one of the nation's largest health information networks.
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May 10, 2013
News
An update to the Hospital Safety Score that assigns grades "A" through "F" to more than 2,500 hospitals in the United States shows they have made only incremental progress in addressing errors, accidents, injuries and infections that kill or hurt their patients. The Leapfrog Group, a hospital watchdog group, conducts the surveys.
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May 9, 2013
News
Watch this informative video to learn how Palomar Health - the largest health district in the state of California - implemented healthcare alert management software to connect its nurse call system with the existing EHR and phone systems to improve care team communication and patient experiences.
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January 2, 2013
Resource
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http://www.medtechmedia.com/files/resource_central/Palomar_Extension_FullHD.mp4
This whitepaper looks at the five ways doctors and their hospitals can benefit from the ability to achieve instant communications routed per physicians’ preferences. With the improved ability for doctors to coordinate care through well-routed communication requests, patient care gets a boost, staff satisfaction goes up, and the healthcare system can achieve overall greater efficiency.
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June 1, 2012
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In this Webinar, we will address health BI challenges and discuss our end to end business analytics platform that transforms the data center, enables modern applications, unlocks insights on any data, and empowers people centric IT.
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May 15, 2013
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Do Not Protect
http://www.medtechwebinars.com/registration/webinar/microsoft%E2%80%99s-role-health-analytics-epic-provider?affiliatedata=himsswebsite
Recent headlines have raised plenty of eyebrows with record setting big-dollar penalties levied against healthcare organizations due to HIPAA violations. Industry experts surmise that this unprecedented trend is the result of significant changes that have occurred recently to HIPAA regulations.
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May 14, 2013
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http://www.medtechwebinars.com/registration/webinar/million-dollar-hipaa-penalties-healthcare?partnerref=website
Cloud-based Microsoft Exchange service features all the mission critical enterprise-class communication and collaboration capabilities of an in-house solution without the unpredictable costs and management headaches. With flexible customization options, healthcare organizations can seamlessly move to a cloud-based solution without compromising security or altering their current encryption approach.
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May 9, 2013
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sites/default/files/resource-media/pdf/apptix_whitepaper_cloudreliabilitycost_0423_final.pdf
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Automated medication administration, electronic health records, computerized physician order entry (CPOE), barcode point-of-care (BPOC) and other automated procedures for improving patient care all rely on accurate input that barcoding can provide. This white paper will explain the role wristbands can play in improving patient safety and freeing nurses and other valuable medical personnel from paperwork and clerical tasks.
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May 6, 2013
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Do you still rely on tactical integration? Strategic interoperability can move your organization beyond tactical integration by connecting internal and external data, systems, and users across the broader IT ecosystem. This approach is increasingly critical to support a broad range of major healthcare initiatives including ACO, analytics, meaningful use, population management, device integration, and more. Strategic interoperability can deliver quick-to-achieve breakthrough clinical and operational benefits.
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May 6, 2013
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http://www.medtechwebinars.com/registration/webinar/strategic-interoperability-providing-solutions-achieve-connected-care?affiliatedata=website
In healthcare organizations today, it's all about getting the most from the technology you choose by providing versatility. One monitor mounted on a wall in a patient room, programmed at the back end with applications, cable and other features, can deliver a host of multimedia choices. These can range from TV, movies, music, Internet access, email and games to educational information, treatment tips and even meal menus - far from the days of simple in-room television.
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May 6, 2013
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The Office of the National Coordinator has specified the use of RxNorm as the medication and medication allergy vocabulary constraint within certified systems which enable Meaningful Use Stage 2 clinical information exchanges. Specifications for the electronic computation of clinical quality measures (CQM) leverage “eMeasures” and their associations to medication and medication allergy value sets to enable the programmatic computation of summary CQM reports for CMS submission.
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April 30, 2013
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Microsoft Office 365 brings together online versions of Exchange, SharePoint and Lync along with our familiar Office Professional Plus suite. It is designed to help meet healthcare organizations’ need for patient-centered collaboration, robust security and adherence to privacy regulations, including full support for a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement. Microsoft Office 365 provides the user experience, productivity, and IT management capabilities that healthcare enterprises have come to know and trust for mission-critical applications while affording decision-makers the flexibility in meeting challenging business scenarios through implementation and licensing options.
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April 25, 2013
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The emergence of predictive analytics is making it possible for health care organizations to get a more accurate picture of the future. This white paper offers examples of how the health care industry is applying advanced analytics to data. As a result, organizations can quickly and effectively implement programs that vastly improve care and reduce unnecessary readmissions. To find out more, download the full report.
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April 23, 2013
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sites/default/files/resource-media/pdf/sas_hdm_leveraging_advanced_analytics_wp.pdf
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In today’s healthcare environment, there is increasing internal and external pressure to improve outcomes, reduce costs and maximize reimbursement for patient care. All parts of the hospital have a stake in meeting these pressures. To maximize results, an integrated strategy to map detailed clinical information and supply clinicians’ timely and efficient navigational tools at the point of care, can allow teams to identify the highest opportunities and drive meaningful change and improvement. Learn how in this informative, interactive webinar.
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April 9, 2013
Resource
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In the “computer world” in which we live today, patients are using technology to address their healthcare needs in ways that we have never seen before.
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May 21, 2013
Blog
It is always interesting how events find ways of connecting themselves together even when they seem so unrelated.
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May 20, 2013
Blog
The FDA launched an impressive patient network website this month, after nearly four years of research, focus groups, usability testing and more.
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May 16, 2013
Blog
I’ve been in the healthcare delivery business now for 30 years and I can confidently say we’ve paid almost no attention to design. As we get closer to a world where we are engaging patients in their own health outcomes, design will be much more critical.
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May 13, 2013
Blog
Training healthcare providers to be able to respond to any situation they might find themselves in is crucial to their development as healthcare professionals.
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May 6, 2013
Blog
ONC/CMS provides strong oversight of the meaningful use program by continuousy reexamining the quality of certified products and auditing hospitals and practices that have attested to meaningful use.
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May 1, 2013
Blog
As the healthcare environment continues to evolve, many healthcare executives feel the pressure to quickly roll out solutions and applications to support emerging delivery and payment models, as well as meet the unique needs of diverse end users.
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April 30, 2013
Blog
In a world where most folks change jobs every couple of years, people are often amazed to hear that I started work in connected health 19 years ago. Implicit in their amazement is a question, “Why did you stick with it so long?” The quickest response is that the work we started back then is not yet finished.
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April 25, 2013
Blog
The American College of Physicians (ACP) Ethics, Professionalism, and Human Rights Committee, the ACP Council of Associates, and the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) Special Committee on Ethics and Professionalism spent eighteen months developing a policy statement on online medical professionalism.
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April 19, 2013
Blog
Many reporters have contacted me for an IT perspective on the April 15 bombings in Boston. Within moments of the event, social media became the preferred mechanism for communication and coordination.
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April 17, 2013
Blog
I'm quoted in the current issue of Medical Economics, on the subject of the Medicare PQRS: Physician Quality Reporting System. I'm not a big fan of PQRS, since it rewards reporting of process measures, not outcomes, and the amounts at stake have not been enough to move most docs to bother.
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April 11, 2013
Blog
I keep hearing that "There's no standards for that," or that "There's too many optional features in that data element." Sometimes these pronouncements come from people who should know better, and other times, it simply comes from folks who don't know that there are other places to look.
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April 2, 2013
Blog
Solution will help to deliver coordinated and integrated care, improving efficiency and patient outcomes
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May 20, 2013
Press Release
In a move that could help accelerate the transformation of U.S. health care around evidence-based medicine, Deloitte and Intermountain Healthcare are announcing a landmark alliance around big data and analytics.
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February 28, 2013
Press Release
The Joint Commission today released a free monograph, "Improving Patient and Worker Safety: Opportunities for Synergy, Collaboration and Innovation," to draw attention to the need to create a culture that focuses on both the safety of patients and the health care workers who care for them.
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November 21, 2012
Press Release
CareFusion and Cerner today announced the implementation of interconnected systems that share data for enhanced medication management at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, a leading U.S. teaching and research hospital and designated Magnet institution.
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October 4, 2012
Press Release
ConnectVirginia, the Commonwealth’s Statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE), is in the process of on boarding Inova, Northern Virginia’s largest health care system, as its first EXCHANGE partner.
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October 4, 2012
Press Release
The State of Ohio has begun work with TransforMED to transform 50 primary care practices into patient-centered medical homes (PCMH). TransforMED is a nonprofit, wholly owned subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a national leader in medical home transformation.
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October 4, 2012
Press Release
UnitedHealthcare has provided $20 million in financing to help 11 Critical Access Hospitals in rural communities throughout California improve health information technology (IT) systems, including the adoption of electronic health records.
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October 3, 2012
Press Release
Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), an international communications and information technology company, has been awarded a three-year, $7.9 million contract from Scottsdale Health Partners (SHP), a newly created joint venture between Scottsdale Healthcare and Scottsdale Physician Organization, to implement its Clinical Integration Solution. The Harris solution will help SHP intensify its focus on care quality, safety, efficiency, cost reduction and patient experience while preparing for a healthcare environment dominated by population health management, accountable care and payment-for-value rather than volume.
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October 3, 2012
Press Release
Scripps Health announced today that it has been awarded a $3.75 million grant from the Qualcomm Foundation, to be used for the Scripps Translational Science Institute, which was established by Scripps Health in collaboration with various parties to support the development of breakthrough digital technologies designed to revolutionize the practice of medicine.
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October 3, 2012
Press Release
In the year since the first NYeC gala, there have been revolutionary advancements in health IT throughout New York and across the nation. On Monday, October 15th, five champions of health IT will be highlighted at the second gala and award ceremony.
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September 28, 2012
Press Release
Sandlot Solutions, a leading healthcare information technology company, recently released The New Model of Health Information Exchanges: Using Data and Analytics to Improve Health Care Delivery, an industry report highlighting the evolution of health information exchange (HIE) and how advancements such as digital envelope technology drive new functionalities and capabilities. Fourth-generation HIEs extend beyond the simple exchange of patient records to the meaningful use of data for the delivery and coordination of care at the individual and community levels.
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September 27, 2012
Press Release
As part of the continuing effort to provide world-class health care closer to where more Veterans live, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs today announced plans to open 13 new community-based outpatient clinics in nine states.
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July 19, 2012
Press Release