ORLANDO--Nurses can play a meaningful role as leaders and innovators in designing and implementing new care delivery models, said Laura Wood, DNP, MS, RN, senior vice president, patient care services and chief nursing officer, Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH), at the Nursing Informatics Symposium at the Health Information and Management Systems Society’s annual meeting.

Over five and a half years, the approximately 350 hospitals that have participated in Premier Inc.’s QUEST collaborative beat national averages for costs and mortality through use of the QUEST methodology and integrated analytics, the Charlotte, N.C., company says. The savings so far have added up to $11.65 billion and 136,375 deaths prevented through evidence-based standardization of health care services, according to its figures.

This year’s meeting offers new features such as an expanded Interoperability Showcase and Beacon Nation Live. 

Bellevue, WA January 28, 2014 - Today, Edifecs, Inc., a healthcare solutions company specializing in information management and compliance technology, announced a strategic partnership with the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC). MHDC will leverage the Edifecs Collaborative Testing Solution to support its ICD-10 testing efforts for data transactions among providers and state health plans. The ICD-10 Collaborative Testing Program (CTP) will reduce the cost and time of testing, mitigate financial and compliance risk, and improve overall ICD-10 preparation among participants. Currently, eight health plans and nine provider organizations are engaged in the CTP, with more expected soon.

Vocera Communications, a Calif.-based provider of integrated mobile communications solutions, has acquired mVisum, a provider of alarm management, according to an announcement. The mVisum transaction—an asset purchase valued at $3.5 million—closed on Jan.13.

See how leading radiologists and oncologists at NIH are using technology such as semi-automated cancer lesion management and multi-media reporting software to reliably, consistently and quickly distribute reports in oncology follow up and treatment planning.

The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange will partner with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and healthcare organizations to develop the ICD-10 Implementation Success Initiative.

These short-term coding events, where the best and brightest work on tools and devices, could drive the next great healthcare solutions.