The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has granted Premier access to its Virtual Research Data Center (VRDC) to develop innovations that drive healthcare transformation.

An initiative in Israel that included systematic feedback and monitoring helped reduce the use of common laboratory and other diagnostic tests.

The Missouri Hospital Association’s consumer-focused website, Focus on Hospitals, now offers pricing data for participating Missouri hospitals.

The National Quality Forum’s Measure Applications Partnership (MAP) has submitted recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services for approximately 140 performance measures under consideration for use in 16 federal healthcare programs.

Abbott has agreed to acquire point-of-care diagnostics company Alere for approximately $5.8 billion, the companies announced this week. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule to update the methodology used to measure the performance of accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

The BFCC-QIO will use InterQual evidence-based criteria for two-midnight short-stay reviews.

Mergers of large health insurance companies have been in the news in recent months, but an editorial from Health Affairs suggests it remains to be seen if such deals are truly beneficial.