Patients for far too long have been left out of the healthcare loop. The Office of the National Coordinator is trying to change that through not just Meaningful Use regulations, but also by working to build a coalition of stakeholders better equipped to engage patients, according to the speakers of a Jan. 17 webinar hosted by the National eHealth Collaborative.

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation entered a pay-for-performance agreement with two medical schools and one private provider organization that will award up to $59 million to providers for meeting quality and efficiency targets.

The ability to automate reports for quality measures would save providers time and provide a clear view of their progress over time, but that ability is still out of reach, according to researched published in the January issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

Walmart has committed $670,000 to underwrite the Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative, a statewide effort to transform healthcare delivery with the hopes of containing costs and improving quality.

The National Quality Forum has endorsed 14 infectious disease quality measures and an additional pulmonary quality measure.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced that an additional 106 accountable care organizations are participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, bringing the total to more than 250.

Boston Children’s Hospital has partnered with Life Technologies to launch Claritas Genomics, a new company formed to develop genetic and genomics-based diagnostic testing technologies.

As healthcare reform takes root and accountable care organizations (ACOs) make their mark on the map, the healthcare landscape grows more complex, according to a January report from CSC.