BOSTONFor low-risk patients, mortality increases when the number of prior heart failure (HF) hospitalizations increase, however, long-term mortality impacts differ by baseline risk of death, Scott L. Hummel, MD, of the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, Mich., said during the rapid fire abstracts session Sept. 19 at the 15th annual Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) scientific meeting. If HF hospitalization data are acquired, HF resources may be better utilized.

Steven Jones, MD, a family practice physician, will join Meditech as the company's lead physician for electronic health record (EHR) development efforts, as well as across multiple clinical projects.

BOSTONDisparities are rampant in heart failure care, Karen E. Joynt, MD, MPH, of the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, said during a presentation Sept. 19 at the 15th annual Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) scientific meeting. When it comes to monitoring and reporting readmission rates, patient and community factors are forgotten and measurements center instead on the hospital and its practices.

The University of Michigan Medical School is establishing a computational medicine and bioinformatics department, following action by the Ann Arbor-based universitys board of regents.

Fifty-five percent of cardiologists who responded to an American College of Cardiology (ACC) survey are either participating or plan to participate in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) EHR Incentive Program. Thirty-four percent have already registered, according to a survey published in the colleges Cardiology magazine.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released an ICD-10 transition guide. ICD-10 requirements go into effect Oct. 1, 2013.

Public policies should focus on readmissions that may be avoidablethose that are unplanned and related to the initial admission, such as a surgical site infection, according to a report from the American Hospital Association (AHA).

Research in the September edition of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association found that while only 0.1 percent of Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database reports searched were related to health IT, the FDA reports proved to be a useful source of information about the nature of software problems and their safety implications with the potential to inform strategies for safe design and implementation.