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
PRESS RELEASES
BLOGS
RESOURCES
NEWS
In looking at the impact clinical decision support systems have had on the healthcare provider community, it is tempting to refer to the old adage "Be careful what you wish for." Because in the healthcare context, it means "You wanted more data, now you've got it. What are you going to do with it?"
April 4, 2013
News
Florida Hospital Carrollwood, an Adventist Health System facility, has received the Stage 7 award from HIMSS Analytics. The award represents attainment of the highest level on the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Records Adoption Model, which is used to track EMR progress at hospitals and health systems.
April 4, 2013
News
For 15 years, Congress has bestowed special privileges to some small remote hospitals, usually in rural areas, to help them stay afloat. Medicare pays them more than it pays most hospitals and exempts them from financial pressure to operate efficiently and requirements to reveal how their patients fare. Nearly one in four hospitals qualifies for the program. Despite these benefits, there's new evidence that the quality of many of these hospitals may be deteriorating.
April 3, 2013
News
Dubbing it "the next great American project," President Barack Obama announced the launch of the BRAIN Initiative, aimed at unlocking the many mysteries of the brain. The $100 million "to get the project off the ground" comes from the National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation, and is part of the budget the president will send to Congress next week.
April 2, 2013
News
A new report from Press Ganey emphasizes the value of capturing every patient's voice in order to focus efforts on enhancing the quality and safety of care.
April 2, 2013
News
Driven by skyrocketing healthcare spending, the Healthcare Financial Management Association has launched Value Journey, a new initiative with 35 hospital systems across the country to identify common challenges, as well as common capabilities, strategies and tactics.
April 1, 2013
News
Omada Health, a start-up company based in San Francisco, has launched its flagship online product, called Prevent, which is aimed at tackling diabetes, a disease that affects 43 percent of Americans and, according to the American Diabetes Association, cost America $245 billion last year.
March 29, 2013
News
Eighty-two percent of U.S. doctors responding to a recent survey indicate they want patients to actively participate in their own healthcare by updating their electronic health records. However, only 31 percent said they believed a patient should have full access to his or her own record.
March 28, 2013
News
Built specifically for medical missions, Africa Mercy includes six operating rooms, intensive care, and bed space for up to 78 patients. It is outfitted with the latest healthcare technology, including a digital X-ray system from Quantum Medical Imaging.
March 27, 2013
News
Wouldn't it be nice to receive a video explaining your recent medical procedures, what they meant, and what you need to do, directly after a discharge? How about a video to talk you through your most recent bill, explaining each cost in detail. Smart video offers a way to tailor those messages to the masses in a cost-effective manner.
March 26, 2013
News
Accountable care organizations might be today's hope for grappling with healthcare costs and bumping up quality, but according to one expert, they are doomed to fail without one key element.
March 25, 2013
News
Three subcommittees of the House Energy and Commerce Committee just concluded three hearings on mobile health March 18-21, looking for "the sweet spot and that fine line," between patient safety regulations and freedom of innovation, as it was described by Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) at the opening of the hearings.
March 22, 2013
News
Radiology groups and imaging centers have been on the leading technology edge for many years. The leadership principles of radiology CEOs and CIOs shine in how they approach.
July 11, 2011
Blog
In the first national study to examine care at critical access hospitals (CAHs) in rural areas of the U.S., Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found that CAHs have fewer clinical capabilities, lower quality of care, and worse patient outcomes compared with other hospitals.
July 8, 2011
Blog
The satellite emergency department market is doing well, and from what I have seen, as attractive to patients as hospitals looking to implement them.
July 5, 2011
Blog
Mid-level providers, commonly called registered nurses (RNs) or physicians’ assistants (PAs) are a beacon of hope for struggling hospitals as the physician attrition rate and the number of aging Americans continues to spiral upwards.
June 27, 2011
Blog
An unsatisfactory relationship between the doctor and patient is one of the great impediments to a functioning U.S. healthcare system. Our social media followers say that relationship is hurt by three primary factors... can IT help?
June 24, 2011
Blog
Being in healthcare IT, and inspired all the time by the optimism and the opportunities technology has provided us, I thought that collecting my personal health information would be a fairly simple and straightforward task. Instead, the wide range of service I was provided when simply trying to collect my medical records was quite an eye opening experience.
June 23, 2011
Blog
When the clock struck midnight on April 18, 2011, Jennifer Brull, MD, was ready. ONC talked to her about what the transition to EHRs has meant to her, her practice, and her patients.
June 21, 2011
Blog
A new Health and Human Services (HHS) initiative, Partnership for Patients, is calling hospitals to focus on nine specific types of medical errors where the potential is great for increased care.
June 20, 2011
Blog
The healthcare IT community is a technologically savvy lot, to be sure. Dreaming up systems that will ultimately improve patient health (and perhaps a bottom line or two) is certainly the work of creative and dedicated professionals.
June 16, 2011
Blog
I’ve been interested in the growing population of folks who self-track objective data for health purposes. The phenomenon is referred to either as personal informatics or the Quantified Self. Both concepts have a following and both are intimately tied into the value of connected health.
June 14, 2011
Blog
For those paying close attention to the world of mobile health last week, you may have noticed a number of tweets coming out of Cape Town, South Africa, and the Mobile Health Summit put on there by the GSMA, an organization that represents mobile operators worldwide, and the mHealth Alliance.
June 13, 2011
Blog
An article headline caught my attention the other day, “A thriving medical industry is a boon for the building.” That statement rings true from my perspective.
June 13, 2011
Blog
Tucson Medical Center and local physicians, with the help of health technology and services company Optum, today announced they are creating the nation’s first “Sustainable Health Community,” based on an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model in which hospitals, physicians, residents, employers and others share in the risk and rewards of making the health system work better for everyone.
June 9, 2011
Press Release
As hospitals scramble to adopt the patient-centered focus that is at the heart of federal regulations and legislation aimed at improving healthcare in the U.S., LodgeNet Healthcare today announced the expansion of its interactive patient engagement solution that encourages patients to become educated, active members of their care teams.
June 8, 2011
Press Release
Elekta has collaborated with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) to integrate the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines™) into Elekta's MOSAIQ® Oncology Information System. The collaboration offers Elekta users real-time access to NCCN's evidence-based clinical content directly from within the MOSAIQ patient record.
June 8, 2011
Press Release
Practice Fusion, the fastest growing Electronic Health Record (EHR) community in the country, has been awarded ambulatory certification (ONC-ATCB 2011/2012)as a Complete EHR by Drummond Group, an Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ATCB).Practice Fusion has also launched new Meaningful Use resources to help doctors in small medical practices prepare for EHR incentives.
June 7, 2011
Press Release
Among the first healthcare providers to have money in the bank -- thanks to the federal government's electronic health record (EHR) incentive program -- are two Texas hospitals, Stamford (Texas) Memorial Hospital and Hemphill County Hospital, Canadian, Texas.
June 7, 2011
Press Release
MyHealthDIRECT announced today that its flagship healthcare connection solution has been selected for installation at Nashville General Hospital at Meharry, Nashville's leading city-owned medical center and part of the Metropolitan Nashville Hospital Authority (MNHA).
June 7, 2011
Press Release
Health 2.0 and the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health today announced the winner of the Local Children’s Data Developer Challenge, Team Big Yellow Star, for its interactive tool, Mapping Health. The winning submission is a web-based, interactive data visualization focused on children’s health data in California.
June 6, 2011
Press Release
NorthShore University HealthSystem is one of the first health systems in the country to be recognized by the federal government for demonstrating meaningful use of its electronic medical record system in a way that improves patient care and safety.
June 6, 2011
Press Release
Kaiser Permanente Colorado is one of only three health plans in the nation to receive a top honor for excellence in medication safety. The award, issued by the Pharmacy Quality Alliance, recognizes Kaiser Permanente's outstanding performance on medication safety measures included in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) new 5-star rating program.
June 6, 2011
Press Release
Pacifica Women’s Health Care has chosen to use the 2011 Waiting Room Solutions Web Based Family Practice Electronic Health Record and Practice Management V4.0 software. The practice, which has two busy clinics, looks forward to using this software.
June 6, 2011
Press Release
Health 2.0, IMPAQ International (IMPAQ) and NORC at the University of Chicago (NORC) are proud to announce the launch of the Medicare Claims Data Developer Challenge, which will solicit entries to develop an online dashboard for comparative effectiveness, health services and health policy research.
June 2, 2011
Press Release
QlikTech, a leader in Business Discovery - user-driven Business Intelligence (BI), today announced that its customer Centerstone Research Institute (CRI), a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving healthcare delivery through the integration of research and information technology, is expanding its QlikView deployment to make significant progress toward finding a cure for mental illness and addiction disorders.
June 2, 2011
Press Release
