Through the Vitals SmartShopper program, employees receive cash incentives for choosing less expensive options for imaging, blood work and other areas in healthcare, the Associated Press reports. Vitals, a healthcare data firm, offers the SmartShopper program to employers and insurers in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Indiana and Kentucky.

Courtney M. Townsend, Jr., MD, FACS, the Robertson-Poth Distinguished Chair in General Surgery, department of surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Galveston, was elected President-Elect of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

Early analytics adopters are reaping the rewards but other providers are struggling with implementation, according to a study conducted by HIMSS Analytics and data analytics firm Qlik. 

Critical access hospitals aren’t faring well in the current healthcare environment with a rising rate of closures. 

The Innovation Institute hosted an open house for its Innovation Lab in Newport Beach, Calif. on October 1, 2015. Key partners, including Boston Scientific, Dell, and Deloitte were welcomed and honored as collaborators in health care innovation.

Time is money, and patients seeking ambulatory care waste too much of both. In fact, they spend more on “opportunity costs”—an average of $43 per visit—than on out-of-pocket payments for the ambulatory visit itself.

With a big question mark hanging over its future, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality launched its 2015 Research Conference on Oct. 5.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT just held its fifth annual Consumer Health IT Summit and data, analytics and patients were at the center of several sessions.