Bush makes progress on healthcare IT plan
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has announced that more than 100 companies will participate in the Administration's plan to advance healthcare through the use of information technology. So far, hundreds of companies and states have signed up for an initiative designed to make healthcare quality and costs transparent to the U.S. public, according to an HHS statement released on December 20. The companies include General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Daimler Chrysler, IBM, Xerox, Starbucks, Aetna, Humana Inc., General Mills and Dow Chemical. DATE: 12/20/06
Top coding hospitals announced by HSS
Hospitals in Texas, Mississippi, Missouri and New York top the third annual Top 200 Coding Hospital Report presented by HSS, an Ingenix company. Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, a 350-bed teaching hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y. , took top honors in the major teaching hospital category. In the minor teaching category, Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital in St. Louis, finished first. Among non-teaching facilities, Bellville (Texas) General Hospital and Alliance Laird Hospital in Union, Miss., notched top spots in the urban and rural categories, respectively. DATE: 11/17/06
Patient-centered care seen as way to boost quality
The federal government and other healthcare stakeholders are increasingly interested in what is called "patient-centered care" as a measure of quality of care. The two go hand-in-hand, industry and government leaders say. At a recent briefing by the Commonwealth Fund and the Alliance for Health Reform, Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis said healthcare information technology is at the top of the list for driving patient-centered care. "Patients want superb access to care, quality and safety but they want to be active in their care and partners in their care," Davis said. DATE: 12/21/06