David Blumenthal, M.D., one of the nation’s preeminent health information technology experts, thought leaders on primary care and professionalism, and foremost health policy scholars, has been named the next president of The Commonwealth Fund by the foundation’s board, to succeed Karen Davis on January 1, 2013.

Dr. Peter Goldbach, chief medical officer at Health Dialog, has released his whitepaper called “From Theory to Practice: Implementing Shared Decision Making at the Point of Care.”

Gilbert Hospital and Florence Hospital at Anthem, both southeast of Phoenix, have chosen the comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) from Healthcare Management Systems Inc.(HMS) to support rapid growth plans and help enhance quality of care while preparing its hospitals for meaningful use attestation.

The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) offers International ACS NSQIP Scholarships for two surgeons from countries other than the United States or Canada who demonstrate strong interests in surgical quality improvement.

As part of its commitment to share health literacy best practices, education, and knowledge, Health Literacy Innovations, creators of the Health Literacy Advisor™ (in Spanish—Asesor de Comunicación en Salud™), announced it will offer seven scholarships to the 11^th Annual IHA Health Literacy Conference.

Standard Register, a recognized leader in managing critical communications and information for health care, has signed an agreement with HealthTrust Purchasing Group, L.P., (HealthTrust), a Tennessee-based group purchasing organization (GPO).

The American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM) launched its new research program in March by awarding $195,000 to investigators engaged in evidence-based research. Applicants who received ASHRM funding are working to improve patient outcomes through their research on high reliability organizations, serious safety events and root cause analysis. This research is intended to improve patient safety, supporting ASHRM’s goal of “Getting to ZeroTM: Eliminating Preventable Serious Safety Events.”

Leaders from 34 children’s hospitals from across the country gathered at Cardinal Health in Columbus, Ohio, on March 15 to launch a national effort to improve quality of care and patient safety in pediatric hospitals.