Newark, NJ, January 29, 2015 -- Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon BCBSNJ) announced the expansion of their patient-centered programs dedicated to improving patient care coordination, reducing unnecessary costs and improving the patient experience. The expansion means more than 750,000 members are now being treated by doctors in Horizon BCBSNJ’s patient-centered programs.

Evidence suggests that hospital productivity has lagged behind other industries, but a study published in Health Affairs concludes that the opposite is true.

Fewer than 1 percent of encounters between clinicians and patients led to a request for medical services that were deemed clinically inappropriate, according to a study published online in JAMA Oncology, which examined oncology outpatient facilities at three Philadelphia-area hospitals between October 2013 and June 2014. 

Implementing an electronic safety net for communicating imaging findings can help these results get acknowledged in a timely manner, often within 24 hours, according to a study published online in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Following the success of the Partnership for Patients initiative in reducing adverse medical events, CMS is planning a second round of contracts in hopes of continuing the downward trend. Called Hospital Engagement Network 2.0, the new set of contracts will attempt to rectify a problem with Partnership for Patients by requiring all participants to use the same measures to track outcomes.

Health information exchanges (HIEs) can reduce the chances of unnecessary repeat imaging procedures by as much as 25 percent, according to a study published online Jan. 14 in the American Journal of Managed Care.

The Office for the National Coordinator for Health IT keeps plugging away at interoperability and other efforts to set the stage for the future of health IT. This week, the office held its monthly Health IT Policy Committee meeting as well as a joint meeting between the Health IT Standards and Health IT Privacy Committees.

The National Patient Safety Foundation will convene an expert panel to assess the state of the patient safety field and to set the stage for the next 15 years of work.