Quality and Safety

In health IT, it's a man's world. Although women account for more than 47 percent of the U.S. labor force, they hold a paltry 25 percent of senior health IT roles nationwide. Don't get used to this trend, however, say female industry leaders who are working to make the realm of information technology more accessible to women.

Members of a new workgroup focused on ways to improve patient safety and promote innovation in health IT, including mobile medical applications, have been selected by the Department of Health and Human Services and Federal Communications Commission. The workgroup will report to the Health IT Policy Committee which advises the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.

The electronic prescribing systems market is estimated to grow to $794 million, at a compound annual growth rate of 26 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to a new study by MarketsandMarkets, which analyzed the major market drivers, restraints and opportunities around the world.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing April 9, beginning at 10 a.m., to consider President Barack Obama's nomination of Marilyn B. Tavenner for administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Axial Exchange, a developer of patient engagement technologies, unveiled this week its Patient Engagement Index, which ranks U.S. hospitals based on how involved their patient communities are with their own care.

In the new world of healthcare -- one that is focused on collaboration, accountability, providing better care and cutting costs -- Aetna executives view the insurer's newly minted Healthagen division, unveiled last month at HIMSS13, as an indispensible piece of getting things right.

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?"

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.

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.

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.