The latest issue of the American Journal of Accountable Care delves into technology and patient engagement’s role in delivering quality care at lower costs.

The goal of creating better care coordination is pushing traditional competitors into more collaborative agreements. The latest example comes from Missouri, where 5 health systems announced the formation of a new health network encompassing more than 9,300 employees and approximately 1,000 employed and affiliated physicians.

The Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise at Clark University is joining forces with the Worcester Division of Public Health to create an Academic Health Department.

Johns Hopkins Medicine is planning to launch a pilot later this summer for an application for tablet devices that works with EHR systems to automate patient safety checklists.

Missouri providers have banded together to form a collaborative network to improve access and better coordinate healthcare for their patients.

In a national online survey of healthcare consumers, two thirds reported consistently being surprised by medical bills despite the fact that nearly all desired upfront cost estimates and valued these nearly as much as other clinical factors in their decision making, including outstanding bedside manner, prompt test results and accurate diagnoses.

Evidence-based practice is having an impact on healthcare but “we still have robust evidence for only a relatively small proportion of what we do,” says David W. Bates, MD, MSc, chief quality officer and senior vice president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and medical director of clinical and quality analysis for Partners HealthCare in Boston.

It’s a mixed bag in how accountable care organizations (ACOs) are faring at improving health, delivering better quality of care and reducing costs.