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.

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.

Health Wildcatters, a mentorship-driven seed accelerator based in Dallas, is offering 15 health IT startups up to $35,000 and 12 weeks of educational training to get their ideas and businesses off the ground. Companies also may receive up to $250,000 in follow-on funding, according to the Health Wildcatters website.

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.