With the number of Medicare beneficiaries rapidly growing and more Americans qualifying for Medicaid and private insurance under healthcare reform, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is trying to align efforts in patient engagement with consumer e-health.

The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) holds promise for improving the experiences of patients and staff and potentially for improving care processes, but current evidence is insufficient to determine the effects on clinical and most economic outcomes, based on a systematic review published Feb. 5 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

A new proposed rule calls for reforms to Medicare regulations identified as unnecessary, obsolete or excessively burdensome on hospitals and healthcare providers that would save nearly $676 million annually, and $3.4 billion over five years. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) proposed rule supports President Barack Obama’s call on federal agencies to modify and streamline regulations on business.

Without standardizing the language fhat healthcare organizations use for delivering care, analyzing finances and assessing technology, “how in the world can you systematically innovate?” That’s the question Marshall D. Ruffin, Jr., MD, MBA, MPH, chief technology officer of the nonprofit Inova Health System in northern Virginia, poses regarding the increase in chief innovation officers in healthcare.

The HIT Policy Committee is forming a new workgroup on accountable care and health IT, Accountable Care Workgroup, which will be charged with making recommendations on how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services policies and programs can advance the evolution of a health IT infrastructure that enables providers to improve care and population health while reducing costs in accountable care models. 

More than 500 organizations will begin participating in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Through this new initiative, made possible by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, CMS will test how bundling payments for episodes of care can result in more coordinated care for beneficiaries and lower costs for Medicare.

This week’s news covered a wide range of topics but a couple of stories really make you wonder. Apparently, critics of healthcare reform are finding different ways to voice their disapproval.

Healthcare continues to be one of the hottest areas for hiring in the U.S. and one of the toughest to recruit in-demand talent. CareerBuilder’s annual survey finds 22 percent of healthcare hiring managers plan to add full-time, permanent healthcare employees in 2013, up 3 percentage points in 2012. At the same time, 23 percent of healthcare employers reported that they currently have open positions for which they can’t find qualified talent.