Richard Pizzi

"Population health" is a term that is widely used in healthcare, but not universally understood. Various definitions emphasize outcomes, measurement or accountability. So what does population health truly mean?

John Muir Health in Walnut Creek, Calif., has hired Thomas August as its new chief information security officer.

The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada (also known as "SickKids") has appointed Sarah Muttitt, MD, to the position of chief information officer, effective July 2015.

TriHealth, a four-hospital health system based in Cincinnati, Ohio, has named John Ward its new chief information officer.

David W. Bates, MD, an expert in patient safety, has been named senior vice president and chief innovation officer at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Business intelligence has been a popular catchphrase across healthcare in recent years, often touted as a quick cure for inefficient business or clinical processes. BI is not a panacea, but when approached in a smart and targeted way it can translate raw data into actionable knowledge and help cut hospital costs.

When Emma Cartmell worked in Great Britain, she was told that to get promoted, she had to keep her head down for 10 years and wait her turn. For a go-getter like Cartmell, that wasn't good enough.

The December issue of Healthcare IT News has traditionally highlighted the biggest stories tackled by our staff during the previous 12 months. But the biggest news doesn't always mean good news, and it certainly didn't in 2013.

Deborah Jeffries, MD, director of healthcare for Polycom, talks about emerging telemedicine trends, including the growing power of the peer-to-peer aspects of personal health management.

While there has been much talk in healthcare about using information technology on the clinical end to build an interoperable industry, the financial side of healthcare has been given short shrift.