Quality and Safety

How to replicate a successful program underway at Essentia Health that uses telehealth technology to track patients with congestive health failure, is the topic of an AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange being held Wednesday in Rockville, Md.

The Department of Veterans Affairs went national May 5 with a genomics research program that officials call a "game-changer." The initiative, which relies heavily on databases, is underpinned by the use of healthcare information technology.

– "I see healthcare as in many ways the torture test for networking," said Kiren Sekar, director of marketing at San Francisco-based wireless firm Meraki.

A lot of talk these days has focused on transparency in government. Transparency in healthcare is important, too.

A new mobile app links patients with an allergy database created and used by doctors at the Mayo Clinic to help patients make real-time decisions about products they buy, track their allergies and electronically share information with their physician.

Americans may not be embracing social media as a way to communicate with their doctor – and most doctors aren’t using it, either – but experts say it still has value to doctors.

By early summer, four communities in Colorado will be able to securely share patient information through the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization's (CORHIO) network.

Kaiser Permanente this week has opened a new Center for Total Health near Capitol Hill.

On March 31, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed new regulations for accountable care organizations. While they are complex – in excess of 400 pages in length – it is also clear that technology will play a significant role in implementing ACOs.

With the continuing weak economy and the advent of health reform, bundled reimbursement and accountable care organizations expected to ratchet up the financial pressure on their businesses, physicians are increasingly looking to health systems as employers.