Quality and Safety

A staggering 400,000 people are estimated to die each year due to medical errors. A big part of the blame, say nurses in a new survey, lies with poor interoperability between medical devices and IT.

Incorrect or missing data in electronic health records and other health IT systems is a huge patient safety hazard. Worse, according to ECRI, once inaccurate data gets into an EHR, "it's hard to get it out."

Many people think of clinical decision support in terms of technology. But it's not just about computers, says Jerome Osheroff, MD. "It's all about people, process and technology -- in that order of importance."

Chronic disease could be a thing of the past, if National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, MD, has it right. Testifying Tuesday before the Senate, he said NIH is poised to launch a massive data-driven initiative to combat chronic conditions.

Faced with the imperative of sharing patient information when patients moved from the hospital to a nursing home, the technology leaders at Hackensack University Medical Center had to find a way to get it done.

Howard Wolpert, MD, has spent much of his life researching technology innovations for diabetes management. He's convinced better tools would help improve the odds in the fight against this deadly disease.

For six years, Healthcare IT News has called on our readers to shine a bright light on the people in this industry who are making a difference. It's time to cast a ballot for the 2015 H.I.T. Men & Women Awards.

Mayo Clinic is publishing commercialized analytics tools on the Apervita platform, offering other healthcare organizations the chance to leverage its clinical knowledge.

Mobile apps equipped with clinical decision support lead to much higher diagnosis rates than apps that merely record data from a patient exam, a study from Columbia University School of Nursing shows.

Over the past 10 years or more, information technology has markedly changed the treatment and care cancer patients receive today.