The North American healthcare cloud computing market is predicted to grow to almost $6.5 billion by 2018, according to a report from research firm MarketsandMarkets.

BOSTON--Mayo Clinic took a big leap of faith partnering with Optum Labs, said Cris Ross, CIO, speaking at the Medical Informatics World Conference on April 29.

Although healthcare employment growth has remained small due to the impact of reductions in government spending and increased regulatory burdens, the sector may be turning around. Along with increased popularity in hospital stocks by investors, a Harris Poll conducted on behalf of staffing firm Randstad Healthcare finds U.S. healthcare workers' confidence levels rebounded in the first quarter of 2014, rising 2.9 points to 58.0.

The U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) found that healthcare spending surged at a 9.9 percent annual rate in the first quarter largely driven by the expansion of insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued its hospital inpatient prospective payment system (PPS) and long-term care hospital PPS proposed rule for fiscal year 2015, and included in the rule is a requirement that hospitals begin publically posting what they charge for services by October 1.

After one month of uncertainty, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services formally announced the new ICD-10 compliance date: Oct. 1, 2015.

BOSTON--What’s the best word to describe building an analytics-driven organization? “The word I would pick is strategy, as you have to be aligned with the corporate strategy or the whole system breaks down,” said Inderpal Bhandari, PhD, senior vice president and chief data officer at Cambia Health Solutions, speaking at the Medical Informatics World Conference on April 29.

Falls in the inpatient setting prolong hospital stays, increase costs and can be fatal, but a Joint Commission program applying elements of Lean, Six Sigma and change management to healthcare process improvement reduced falls 35 percent when it was implemented by seven healthcare systems.