MINNEAPOLIS--VitalHealth Software, a leading global provider of web-based solutions for health management established by Mayo Clinic and the Noaber Foundation, today announces the availability of VitalHealth QuestLink, a cloud-based software solution to stimulate patient engagement through the use of online questionnaires.

Washington, D.C., December 05, 2013 -- The fifth annual mHealth Summit presented in Washington, DC by HIMSS Media brings together leaders in health IT and health systems industry to share innovations and address some of the most challenging issues facing technology adoption in healthcare. Kate Berry, CEO of National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC), Gary Ozanich, PhD, Senior Research Associate, Center for Applied Informatics at Northern Kentucky University (NKU), Rose Maljanian, Founder and CEO of HealthCAWS and Leslie Kelly Hall, Senior Vice President, Policy at Healthwise will be presenting a panel discussion on consumer engagement at the Summit on December 9, 2013 at 5:00 pm ET.

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/cfh6lx/telemedicine_and) has announced the addition of Wintergreen Research, Inc's new report "Telemedicine and M-Health Convergence: Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2013 to 2019"to their offering.

SSM Health Care–St. Louis and Healthcare Clinic at select Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (Nasdaq: WAG) will launch a collaboration in January 2014 that will improve access to care and increase care coordination for patients.

The United States may be losing ground as the leader in biomedical research and within the next five years will be second to China in the funds it spends for R&D, according to Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D, director of the National Institutes of Health.

Best Practice Partners (BPP), a leader in health IT optimization, is pleased to announce a new division which will focus on assisting payers and providers optimize their existing Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and assist in standing up new ACOs. The division will operate as a federated partnership, drawing on the complimentary skills and expertise of individuals and organizations representing Best Practices for each of the strategic components which go into building a successful ACO.

Advances in speech recognition have helped streamline transcription and recording of patient encounters. Most developments have been in back-end speech recognition, or systems that generate text from dictations that transcriptionists and editors correct and process. But there has been recent growth in front-end speech recognition, which involves systems that require providers to edit the transcribed text immediately after dictating.

Quantia, a leader in Physician Relationship Management, has introduced the industry’s first virtual Marketplace for its physician community—QuantiaMD—that will connect physicians to products and services that can benefit their practice.