There are few opportunities that excite healthcare administrators more than the ability to lower costs and reduce utilization of services. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a group of technologies that minimizes costs while at the same time improves the care of patients suffering from chronic diseases. In addition, RPM has the ability to improve quality…

Guest Editorial David W. Bates, MD, MSC is the Chief Quality Officer, and Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA. The Medical Home is one of the most exciting developments in care redesign in some time. Although the concept was initially developed many years ago in pediatrics, it is just…

For most medical practices, a local hospital interface that allows patient information to be sent and received can be a great benefit when trying to proactively coordinate and manage patient care. In an effort to improve patient care and reduce health system costs, new care models such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and Patient Centered…

The Annals of Internal Medicine published two articles and an editorial this week about the desire of patients to have access to (and share access to) a personal health record (PHR) — and have access to and share notes from the clinical record. The first article, entitled, “Patient Interest in Sharing Personal Health Record Information:…

Earlier this month, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a Perspective article by Richard Bohmer entitled, “The Four Habits of High-Value Health Care Organizations.” The full text is available online. The premise is that while successful organizations may vary in structure, resources, and culture, there are key similarities in approaches to care management….

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation announced a new round of grant opportunities. Here is what the press release stated: “The Health Care Innovation Challenge will award up $1 billion in grants to applicants who will implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled…