For the first time, standards to guide the content, language, format, and appearance of prescription medication labels to reflect how patients read and understand medication instructions are being proposed on a national level.

Aetna announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Medicity, a health information exchange technology company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

With its third patent this year, clinical analytics pioneer Anvita Health has generated another point-of-care innovation with a method for using electronic medical record data combined with comparative effectiveness and formulary plan data to generate a highly personalized drug therapy regimen.

Medication errors are one of the most widespread and preventable causes of harm in modern healthcare. Now Consumers Advancing Patient Safety (CAPS) and more than a dozen other leaders in the field are teaming up to promote best practices to prevent them.

For the first time, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has surveyed nurses about the often-questioned “30-minute rule” that requires scheduled medications in healthcare settings be administered within 30 minutes before or after the scheduled time.

To reduce the likelihood of patient death and disability resulting from errors in the administration of injectable medications in hospitals and other healthcare settings, the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is advancing new labeling requirements that will standardize the information permitted on the highly visible area of these vials to only cautionary statements intended to prevent imminent life-threatening situations.

AliMed announced the release of a new 120-page Bariatrics catalog during the 27th annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). The catalog features a wide range of bariatric products specific to healthcare facilities.

Pfizer Inc. and Epocrates, Inc., announced a collaboration to give healthcare providers (HCPs) mobile access to the Pfizer Medical Information Group to obtain scientific answers to their product questions or to report an adverse event.