One in five Medicare patients return to the hospital within a month after discharge, so it isn’t surprising that the federal government is pushing forward an agenda to discourage costly readmissions. This upcoming October, hospitals with chronic readmission problems with patients struggling with heart failure, pneumonia and heart attack will face Medicare reimbursement penalties.

CHICAGO, April 23, 2013 -- Allscripts took another key step in delivering an Open, Connected Community of Health™ with the release of Allscripts Care Director™. The new solution coordinates outpatient care across healthcare settings. With the industry shift toward value-based care, Allscripts Care Director will help healthcare organizations more effectively manage patient care post hospital discharge and importantly, better address preventable readmissions, a key requirement now that hospitals could be subject to penalties for excess readmissions under Medicare.

An Elsevier news brief is stressing the need for a business case for evidence-based medicine (EBM) to improve the U.S. healthcare system. The brief culminated from a roundtable discussion of healthcare industry thought leaders at the CMIO Leadership Forum in Chicago last fall.

Albany, NY, April 28, 2013 -- GBI Research, leading business intelligence provider has released its latest report, Cloud Computing in Pharmaceutical Research and Development Virtualization of Data through the Cloud Optimizes Next-Generation DNA Sequencing and Clinical Trials Data Management, which provides insights into the key applications of cloud computing in the research, development and sales effectiveness within the pharmaceutical industry. The report provides an understanding of technological concepts in cloud computing, including cloud computing service models, deployment models and key stakeholders. Information on the major players in the cloud computing space is followed by an overall assessment of the technology in terms of benefits and restraints.

Derrick Suehs, chief quality officer of Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., discusses the difference between good and great patient care. "I've begun to realize the difference between good and great comes down to passion and purpose. I suspect many people will dismiss this conclusion as overly simplistic, but I disagree," Suehs writes in an editorial published by Hospital Impact.

STERLING, Va., April 24, 2013 -- In an effort to reduce hospital readmissions, Chesterfield, Mo., based Mercy has contracted Trapollo LLC., to provide a complete managed service offering designed specifically for remote health monitoring programs. 

WOONSOCKET, R.I., April 24, 2013 -- The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, a private foundation created by CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) today announced the recipients of the "Innovations in Community Health" grants, which have been awarded to community health centers nationwide through a partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). The grants will help community health centers increase access to quality health care and produce better health outcomes while reducing costs for patients and healthcare systems.

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2013 -- The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute today announced the appointment of Bryan R. Luce, PhD, MBA, as PCORI's first Chief Science Officer (CSO). In this position, Luce will be responsible for leading the development and implementation of PCORI's patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) agenda.