The Federation of American Hospitals is urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to avoid duplicative quality reporting programs as the agency works to determine how best to use EHRs to support the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program.

The director of the American Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, is planning to step down later this year after a decade leading the agency.

The Joint Commission has appointed Daniel J. Castillo, MD, as the medical director in the division of healthcare quality evaluation, for which he will lead clinical, research and patient safety issues.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has issued a letter to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to congratulate the agency on its patient safety action plan that recognizes the shared responsibility of vendors, clinicians, providers and federal agencies in ensuring that health IT systems are designed, implemented and used to mitigate harm and promote safety. However, the association also encouraged more focus on a single, national master patient index (MPI).

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will develop a new records system to facilitate quality reporting for long-term hospital care, according to a posting Feb. 6 in the Federal Register.

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has appointed Deborah Green, MBA, as executive vice president of operations and chief operating officer. Denise Froemming, CPA, MBA, has been promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer.

MED3OOO, a McKesson company, and Pioneer Medical Group have signed a definitive agreement to jointly own and operate a new advanced management services joint venture.

The Healthcare Coalition on Data Protection published a joint statement highlighting the role of personal data in delivering high quality, patient-centred healthcare and conducting effective clinical and public health research, while expressing concerns on the potential negative impact of the proposed European (EU) General Data Protection Regulation in these areas.