Mobile network operators (MNOs) should be one of your technology partners because they offer a range of services from access to basic telecommunications bandwidth to full, value-added healthcare services.

The pressure on healthcare organizations to improve care quality and patient outcomes, and reduce costs while also meeting Meaningful Use measures and other mandated IT efforts is driving big changes within organizations.

Despite calls for e-prescribing to address preventable medication errors, adoption remained flat through the early 2000s. Rates skyrocketed, however, from 7 percent of physicians in December 2008 to 48 percent in June 2012, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). While all states experienced rapidly increasing e-prescribing activity, three stand out.

Franciscan Alliance and Cigna have launched an accountable care initiative aimed at improving the quality of care for Cigna customers in the Indianapolis area.

Aetna, Memorial Hermann Health System and the MHMD Memorial Hermann Physician Network have formed an accountable care collaboration, which is anticipated to be available on April 1 in Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend counties in Texas.

Even as the final privacy rule impacts healthcare providers across the U.S., states are developing and advancing on their own in specific areas, such as patient safety and telemedicine.

Oncology patients represent less than 1 percent of the patient population, but they consume 10 to 12 percent of overall medical costs, according to John D. Sprandio, MD, president of Consultants in Medical Oncology and Hematology (CMOH), a Philadelphia oncology practice which is recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Level III Medical Home.

Nearly 400 California hospitals have joined together in support of a public-private partnership aimed at enhancing the quality of care provided to patients, according to the California Hospital Association (CHA) and its patient safety partner organizations.