The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently on the proposed rule on Availability of Medicare Data for Performance Measurement, expressing support and constructive criticism for CMS' new authority to release Medicare data for reporting data measuring physician performance, called for under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the federal governments response to the shortcomings in achieving high-quality healthcare across the U.S. However, according to an Aug. 9 commentary in the Journal of American Medical Association, PPACAs quality focus is overshadowed by concerns about pervasive and persistent disparities in care, including such factors as sex, race/ethnicity, social class, insurance status and language.

As the deadline to transition to ICD-10 creeps up on providers, healthcare liaisons urged that planning will be the bolt that keeps the entire process together and leads to a hospitals success. This concept was presented Aug. 10 at The HIMSS Virtual Briefing: Critical Factors of the ICD-10 Conversion.

Achieving higher quality patient-centered care, improving population health and moderating per capita costs requires fundamental change in the U.S. healthcare system. An Aug. 9 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association cited the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act description of accountable care organizations (ACOs) as a model of care that will accept cost and quality of care responsibilities for defined patient populations.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Nuance Communications will develop medical intelligence tools that improve the quality of care by creating an EMR across UPMC, with future plans to increase access to the general industry.

In a study of more than 17,000 patients who were admitted to 57 hospitals for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), researchers found the mean phlebotomy volume was higher in patients who acquired anemia in the hospital compared with those who did not, according to study findings published Aug. 8 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

An external hard drive belonging to a Brigham and Womens/Faulkner Hospital physician was lost in June, potentially affecting 638 patients.

Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) medical centers are now included in the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website, which measures hospital quality based on the outcomes of care.