Quality and Safety

Fifteen months after Intermountain Healthcare and Cerner signed a contract that keeps them in partnership for the next 10 years, Intermountain, known around the world for its pioneering ways, is trailblazing again.

Physician practices are engaging in new healthcare payment models. But they're often overwhelmed by the amount of data they have to manage and varied expectations from payers.

Billed as a "one-of-a-kind" new partnership between academic heavyweights, UPMC, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University have joined forces to drive big innovations in healthcare analytics.

Setting the stage for an IPO two years from now, data warehousing and analytics company Health Catalyst raised $70 million in a rare and oversubscribed Series D round of funding.

A staggering 400,000 people are estimated to die each year due to medical errors. A big part of the blame, say nurses in a new survey, lies with poor interoperability between medical devices and IT.

Incorrect or missing data in electronic health records and other health IT systems is a huge patient safety hazard. Worse, according to ECRI, once inaccurate data gets into an EHR, "it's hard to get it out."

Many people think of clinical decision support in terms of technology. But it's not just about computers, says Jerome Osheroff, MD. "It's all about people, process and technology -- in that order of importance."

Chronic disease could be a thing of the past, if National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, MD, has it right. Testifying Tuesday before the Senate, he said NIH is poised to launch a massive data-driven initiative to combat chronic conditions.

Faced with the imperative of sharing patient information when patients moved from the hospital to a nursing home, the technology leaders at Hackensack University Medical Center had to find a way to get it done.

Howard Wolpert, MD, has spent much of his life researching technology innovations for diabetes management. He's convinced better tools would help improve the odds in the fight against this deadly disease.