The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will award up to $400 million annually under its new Healthcare Connect Fund to accelerate development of broadband networks supporting rural telemedicine and access to health records.

Through a three-year study, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) hopes to evaluate the efficacy of its mobile health smoking cessation initiative, SmokefreeTXT, according to a notice in the Jan. 14 Federal Register.

Mark D. Smith, MD, MBA, who has led the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) since its founding in 1996, plans to step down as president and CEO at the end of year.

As penalties for too many readmissions loom over hospitals, it is clear that many have not done enough to stave off Medicare payment reductions and that coordinated care efforts may require more interoperable tools to achieve results, according to Dominick Bizzarro, RPh, who spoke during a Jan. 10 webinar hosted by the Health Information Management and Systems Society.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has launched a medical appointment scheduling system contest, challenging software developers to create open-source tools for scheduling appointments within the VA EHR system.

The Federal Communications Commission announced it will make up to $400 million available through the Healthcare Connect Fund, a new program to support telemedicine links between urban medical centers and rural clinics.

Wireless technologies have proliferated quickly over a short period of time across the healthcare landscape, and wireless technology managers are now reaching a tipping point. A group of 75 wireless health technology experts met in October 2012 for an Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation workshop to discuss the future of the field. The result was five themes for consideration as wireless technologies play an ever larger role in healthcare.

The Agency for Health Research and Quality called on the Office of Management and Budget to approve a pilot program aimed at increasing awareness among clinicians of the monetary value derived through treatment they deliver in a notice published in the Federal Register.