Mike Miliard

There's been a lot of talk in the past few years -- some would say too much, and way too excited -- about gamification.

In the year and 10 days since it was launched in New Orleans, the vendors of the CommonWell Health Alliance have been setting up the infrastructure for their vision of cross-competitive data liquidity. Now it's time to see what that interoperability can accomplish for the patient.

When it comes to nurses, a couple things go without saying. First, they're absolutely essential to good care delivery. Second -- and this follows from the first -- they're "very, very, very busy people," says David Holland.

Glenn D. Steele Jr., MD, president and chief executive officer of Geisinger Health System, says the integrated delivery network's pioneering population health programs depend on insightful use of data to drive behavior change. That means the behavior of patients, providers and payers alike.

In the first settlement of its kind, Skagit County, Washington will pay the Department of Health and Human Services $215,000 to make up for deficiencies in its HIPAA compliance program.

There's been a whole lot of capital invested in health information technology these past few years. And some people -- especially those who are in charge of spending more of it -- want to know whether it's money well spent.

With more than 50 percent of practices and 80 percent of hospitals having adopted electronic health records and attested for meaningful use by now, it's time to talk about next steps.

In a year where "compliance and enforcement is really where the action is going to be," it might help to have some advice on how to keep on the right side of patient privacy law.

With two hospitals, 800 physicians and more vendors than you can count on two hands and two feet, Hartford, Conn.-based St. Francis Care has a tall order when it comes to data sharing and care coordination.

Too many hospitals depend on outdated and inefficient practices to backup and archive their troves of patient data, according to a study published this week by HIMSS Analytics.