Massachusetts, the first state to enact a universal health insurance coverage law, may also be among the first to experience the political upheaval that could come with healthcare reform driven changes.

June 10, 2014, Boston, Massachusetts – Press Ganey today announced the acquisition of the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI®), the leading quality improvement and nurse engagement tool developed by the American Nurses Association (ANA) and managed by The University of Kansas School of Nursing. The acquisition strengthens Press Ganey’s ability to empower nurses and nursing leaders in their mission to reduce patient suffering and improve the patient experience.

Thanks to robust IT practices and aggressive use of medications and risk-reduction therapies, six Banner Health facilities in Arizona received the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award.

Academic giant Stanford Medical Center in Stanford, California, and ValleyCare Health System, based in Pleasanton, California, have signed a non-binding letter of intent that would make ValleyCare’s two community hospitals and outpatient facilities part of Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has selected iPatientCare, a Woodbridge, N.J.-based medical informatics company, as a Qualified Physician Quality Reporting System registry that is authorized to assist eligible providers with reporting quality data directly to CMS.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--For the second year in a row, Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) was ranked as the number one company for its ease of doing business with providers. Humana ranked number one in overall performance among 148 U.S. health insurers based on a review of 2013 claims-payment data conducted by athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN).

The Medical Informatics World Conference was a great source of knowledge from the field and those who have put analytics at the top of their IT priority list.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has made available the annual update of the 2014 electronic clinical quality measures for eligible professionals and corresponding specifications for electronic reporting.