Quality and Safety

The shift toward value-based care has sparked a demand for analytics like never before, according to a report from research firm KLAS. The report also points out that the demand has vendors rushing a wave of new products to market.

Health information technology systems have made their way to the No. 1 patient safety concern for healthcare organizations, according to the findings of a new ECRI industry report.

If you think your hospital IT department is one of the best in the U.S., nominate it for Healthcare IT News' 4th annual Where to Work: BEST Hospital IT Departments program. Nominations opened April 23, and close May 23.

Jonathan Blum, principal deputy administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and advocate for ACOs, will be stepping down from his position on May 16. The announcement came by way of an internal email via CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.

If the U.S. is going to get a handle on healthcare spending, providers and healthcare organizations are going to have to get serious about accountable care organizations, says one expert.

Seems like the sky is the limit for cloud computing, whether it is to replace servers, manage mobile apps or handle system recovery. Cloud vendors are constantly coming up with new ways to utilize a platform that seemed like little more than vapor five years ago.

Effective use of analytics is "not something you can buy from a vendor; it's an organizational and cultural value that has to grow and mature," said James E. Gaston, speaking Thursday at the Healthcare IT News/HIMSS Media Healthcare Business Intelligence Forum in Washington.

For the most part, providers are still wary over the mHealth movement. And this caution just might be preventing them from big care improvement opportunities, say the findings of a new study.

Geisinger Health System, the pioneering integrated care network, is "perfectly designed to do a huge number of experiments in both the provider and payer sides," said its Chief Executive Officer Glenn Steele Jr., MD, on Thursday.

Is it wrong to be skeptical about the integrity of quality measures in meaningful use, particularly in the wake of what one quality improvement expert called "patient safety's first scandal"? Those at the forefront of healthcare quality and patient safety movements say, "no," but also believe any problems have been contained.