Quality and Safety

Nearly 200 Illinois hospitals are participating in a project sponsored by the state's hospital association to improve the level of healthcare quality.

The Joint Commission will expand the process of accrediting ambulatory healthcare organizations next July to those also interested in becoming a primary care home.

A healthcare IT company focused on reducing costly "never events" in hospitals by keeping track of used surgical sponges has raised $5 million to continue and expand its work.

Pennsylvania's hospitals are above average when compared to national benchmarks of healthcare quality and often improve at a faster rate than the rest of the country, according to the Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance.

Innovent Oncology, a division of US Oncology, has engaged the actuarial and consulting firm Milliman to help develop risk contracting methodologies - including episode rates, bundled payments and capitation - to help identify potential areas where oncologists can improve quality of care while lowering health costs.

In recent Boston Globe and New York Times articles, billing companies were named in connection with a medical records data breach, one of which apparently involved medical records found in a public dump.

St. Vincent's HealthCare in Jacksonville, Fla., has announced it will help the city's major employers set up onsite health centers.

A new study estimates that measurable medical errors cost the U.S. economy $19.5 billion in 2008.

A new initiative from the California HealthCare Foundation will focus on reducing preventable patient readmissions in 20 hospitals across the state.

St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network in Bethlehem, Pa., has leveraged its participation in three different quality initiatives to improve the quality of healthcare delivery.