The Healthcare Transformation Group (HTG) announced on April 25 the formation of a research and development (R&D) team to advance the adoption of GS1® Standards and accelerate HTG’s work to implement a Unique Device Identification (UDI) system.

Harnessing data for better health outcomes is the next big push for health IT. Population health and analytics are critical components of accountable care and healthcare reform with the potential to truly improve quality of care while helping providers fend off federal penalties for underperformance.

Which activities Facebook users like could help predict, track and map obesity rates of where they reside, according to a research study published April 24 in PLOS ONE.

The FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health laid out next steps in developing a national medical device postmarket surveillance system in an April 2013 report.

A new prize series aims to help healthcare organizations use big data more effectively to drive improvements.

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2013 -- Today, the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), Heritage Provider Network (HPN), and The Advisory Board Company launched the Care Transformation Prize Series , a national contest to address the most daunting data problems U.S. health care organizations face as they implement new delivery system and payment reforms.

Discharge practices are “woefully inadequate” and need a makeover in the form of better predictive modeling, in particular as providers transition to an ACO model, said Julie Meek, PhD, clinical associate professor, school of nursing at Indiana University, at the Medical Informatics World Conference on April 8.

BOSTON—The global healthcare ecosystem sees about $2 trillion in waste per year, said Heather Fraser, global life science and healthcare lead at the IBM Institute for Business Value, speaking at the Medical Informatics World Conference on April 9.