ECRI Institute is now accepting submissions to its 8th annual Health Devices Achievement Award program. ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, has recognized healthcare organizations nationwide for the past seven years with its prestigious award for achieving excellence in technology management and patient safety.

By Susan Carr

One of the “buzziest” announcements last week at HIMSS, the annual health IT conference and exhibition, was the launch of the CommonWell Alliance. CommonWell is a non-profit organization created by five major vendors of electronic medical records (EMRs) to develop, promote, and certify a “national infrastructure with common platforms and policies for health data liquidity.”