JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The leaders of Mountain States Health Alliance (MSHA) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) announced Friday that the two organizations have signed an affiliation agreement that will benefit MSHA, VUMC and the residents of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

PLANO, Texas, May 1 -- Vivify Health, Inc. (“Vivify”), formerly Intuitive Health, Inc., has received funding from two healthcare investment firms, Ascension Health Ventures (“AHV”) and Heritage Group (“Heritage”). Proceeds will be used to accelerate the delivery of Vivify’s cloud-based Remote Care Management platform that enables hospitals, home health agencies, payers and other stakeholders to accomplish population health objectives, including reducing readmissions, managing chronic diseases, improving care transitions, and engaging patients in their own well-being.

Coordinated care has been heralded as the direct path to better and more cost-effective care, and financial rewards and penalties under the 2010 federal healthcare law are further driving care coordination. But, experts say communication failures that lead to inappropriate care are very common.

CareMore, through its unique approach to caring for the elderly, is routinely achieving patient outcomes that other providers can only dream about: a hospitalization rate 24 percent below average; hospital stays 38 percent shorter; an amputation rate among diabetics 60 percent lower than average--all without increased total cost. CareMore’s interventions save money in the long run by preventing vastly more costly downstream outcomes such as hospitalizations and surgeries. As a result, CareMore’s overall member costs are actually 18 percent below the industry average.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has requested a 30-day extension to accept comments on its proposed research project concerning patient-reported health IT and workflow, according to a May 1 Federal Register notice.

New Brunswick, N.J., April 24 -- Children’s Specialized Hospital, the nation’s largest provider of the rehabilitation services for children with special needs, announced today that it has launched GetWell Town™, a new interactive patient care (IPC) system developed by GetWellNetwork®. Deployed at all 60-beds in the hospital’s New Brunswick location, PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital, the system is the first and only IPC system specifically developed for pediatric patients and their families. The technology installation was made possible by longstanding hospital supporter L’Oréal USA.

Lyfechannel’s myfamily app is the winner of the healthfinder.gov Mobile App Challenge, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH, announced on April 30. Lyfechannel, a small, privately held Calif.-based company, beat out 25 other submissions.

A state-ordered mandate on insurance companies was signed into law in Arizona, making healthcare more accessible and affordable in rural areas of the state.