Quality and Safety
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute has approved 30 projects under the pilot phase of its new "Pipeline to Proposal" awards program. The Tier I awards, totaling $432,100 in requested funding, are the first to be made through the initiative.
The Joint Commission has announced changes to its standards for diagnostic imaging, effective July 1, 2014. Additional requirements will be phased in by 2015.
The standards changes relate to either quality and safety issues that were needed to more fully address the evolution of healthcare delivery practices.
Physicians in the first subspecialty of clinical informatics, spearheaded by the American Medical Informatics Association, got their board certifications this month -- a pivotal moment in healthcare's "systemic overhaul," according to AMIA.
The Department of Health and Human Services has a few glaring management and performance issues it needs to work out in the coming year -- at least according to a new report put out by the Office of Inspector General.
Premier expects hospital participation in accountable care organizations to double in 2014, according to its fall 2013 Economic Outlook C-suite survey. Premier's Economic Outlook highlights emerging economic and industry trends impacting alliance members and the industry.
The Office of the Inspector General found that nearly all of the more than 800 hospitals it surveyed in late 2012 had federally recommended EHR audit functions in place, but "may not be using them to their full extent," while only a quarter of them had policies on the notoriously problematic practice of copying-and-pasting.
Most people are optimistic about technology innovations advancing healthcare, are willing to participate in virtual healthcare visits with their doctor, and would use health sensors in their bodies and even their toilets, according to a new study commissioned by Intel Corporation.
There's one word that can aptly describe the mobile health market in its entirety. Nascent. And it's been lingering in this stage for years, said industry officials at the 2013 mHealth Summit this week. So, what's finally going to move the market forward? For many, it involves taking a little closer look at history.
Seeking ways in which IT can enable more coordinated care outside traditional settings, the Gary and Mary West Health Institute is launching a five-year study to explore new technologies and new approaches to chronic disease management.
Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, urged his mHealth Summit audience Dec. 10 to think of the smartphone as a modern-day Aladdin's lamp: Touch it, and all sorts of magic can happen. Denmark Minister of Health Astrid Krag talked about Denmark's initiative to reconfigure its healthcare system.