Google and the Mayo Clinic announced a partnership aimed at providing more reliable and accurate healthcare information. The changes are expected to be unveiled on Feb. 17.

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.

The path to interoperability of health information has been a long one and will continue to be so, but healthcare organizations, IT vendors and government can take steps now to move forward on that journey, members of two federal advisory committees said this week.

Healthcare organizations are still doing the bare minimum when it comes to digital, between-visit or post-discharge interactions with patients, according to a report from Chilmark Research.