Behavior modification can play a role in improving healthcare for Americans, Humana Chairman, President and CEO Michael B. McCallister said during his keynote address Reinventing Healthcare: From Covering Sickness to Creating Well-Being, at the Institute for Health Technology Transformation (iHT2) Summit in New York City on Sept. 20.

While the accountable care organization (ACO) model may not be formally pursued from a Medicare ACO designation standpoint, the majority of providers agree that accountable care is where the future of healthcare is going, according to a new report from market researcher KLAS.

The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI), a health research initiative led by payors Aetna, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and UnitedHealthcare, was launched to allow researchers and policymakers access to a collection of health plan and government payor data. The HCCI said this initiative will offer new insights into healthcare costs, utilization and intensity, as well as inform the public policy process and assist in developing new solutions to long-term problems confronting the healthcare system.

BOSTONFor low-risk patients, mortality increases when the number of prior heart failure (HF) hospitalizations increase, however, long-term mortality impacts differ by baseline risk of death, Scott L. Hummel, MD, of the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, Mich., said during the rapid fire abstracts session Sept. 19 at the 15th annual Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) scientific meeting. If HF hospitalization data are acquired, HF resources may be better utilized.

Steven Jones, MD, a family practice physician, will join Meditech as the company's lead physician for electronic health record (EHR) development efforts, as well as across multiple clinical projects.

BOSTONDisparities are rampant in heart failure care, Karen E. Joynt, MD, MPH, of the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, said during a presentation Sept. 19 at the 15th annual Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) scientific meeting. When it comes to monitoring and reporting readmission rates, patient and community factors are forgotten and measurements center instead on the hospital and its practices.

The University of Michigan Medical School is establishing a computational medicine and bioinformatics department, following action by the Ann Arbor-based universitys board of regents.

Fifty-five percent of cardiologists who responded to an American College of Cardiology (ACC) survey are either participating or plan to participate in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) EHR Incentive Program. Thirty-four percent have already registered, according to a survey published in the colleges Cardiology magazine.