The National Minority Quality Forum has launched a collaboration between its National Health Index (NHI) and Microsoft to launch the National Clinical Trial Network designed to address challenges in clinical trials.

Clinical Innovation + Technology published a viewpoint on Feb. 5 by Ken Elek, MD, about information versus data. The following is a response submitted by Brian Martin, MD, founder and CMIO of Sedeo, a clinical analytics firm delivering strategic intelligence to the pharmaceutical industry, along with Eleck's rebuttal.

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is the first children's hospital to earn the National Committee for Quality Assurance's accreditation as an accountable care organization (ACO). 

The Federation of American Hospitals is urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to avoid duplicative quality reporting programs as the agency works to determine how best to use EHRs to support the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program.

The director of the American Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, is planning to step down later this year after a decade leading the agency.

The Joint Commission has appointed Daniel J. Castillo, MD, as the medical director in the division of healthcare quality evaluation, for which he will lead clinical, research and patient safety issues.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has issued a letter to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to congratulate the agency on its patient safety action plan that recognizes the shared responsibility of vendors, clinicians, providers and federal agencies in ensuring that health IT systems are designed, implemented and used to mitigate harm and promote safety. However, the association also encouraged more focus on a single, national master patient index (MPI).

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will develop a new records system to facilitate quality reporting for long-term hospital care, according to a posting Feb. 6 in the Federal Register.