In the late 1990s, when most hospitals were exiting the physician ownership game, the Henry Ford Health System (Detroit, Michigan) assumed a radical stance not only by continuing to employ its physicians, but to innovate in the area of physician compensation models.

More than 400 health systems are actively engaged in researching and building the medical home, reports Lisa Bielamowicz, MD, who heads the Medical Home Project for The Advisory Board, which has identified 50 to 60 varieties of “enhanced primary care.”

While the Supreme Court deliberates the constitutionality of the individual mandate among other aspects of the health care reform law, hospital and health system leaders around the country have enlisted in a more urgent undertaking: rescuing health care. Driven by the mission to serve and troubled by the calculus of diminishing reimbursements, they

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) has submitted its comments on the proposed rules for Stage 2 meaningful use, calling for more time to allow healthcare organizations to better prepare.

Physicians and hospitals that treat adults with heart failure (HF) have a new set of performance measures to help improve the quality of care for their patients. In an interview, writing committee co-chair Robert O. Bonow, MD, discussed key changes in the measures, including efforts to minimize the reporting burden and maximize the use of EHRs.

The National Quality Forum's (NQF) board of directors has endorsed two measures that address all-cause unplanned readmissions in hospitals.

Cambashi, an IT and production consultancy firm with corporate offices in the U.K. and U.S., is asking medical device manufacturers around the world to complete an online survey. The firm hopes the results will help point the way to more nimble production of safe and effective products in highly regulated environments.

To achieve EHR adoption nationwide, federal policies also may have to focus on encouraging adoption among non-primary care specialists, as well as addressing persistent gaps in the use of EHR systems by practice size, physician age and ownership status, according to an article published in the April edition of Health Affairs.