Last fall, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) embarked on the next phase of a plan aimed at continuing to improve the patient safety and quality of care across its network of 19 hospitals and more than 400 outpatient sites, physician practices, and other care facilities.

Government and private industry have worked together to address policy issues throughout America’s history. For example, since the 1970s, NASA has been in the forefront of research and development in the field of telemedicine with the help of private industry.

Most of what I hear about interoperability refers to sharing data among information systems. But in late June, I spent 3 days at a joint conference of organizations working on the interoperability of medical devices.

Hospitals that worry whether making care for patients safe makes them money or costs them money will never be safe.

The adoption and use of barcode technology is on the rise as hospital administrators and healthcare providers gain familiarity with its value.

Ever since the Institute of Medicine reported that up to 98,000 Americans die each year as the result of medical errors (2000) and observed that our healthcare system suffers from a “chasm” between consistent, high-quality care that is based on the best scientific knowledge available and the care many actually receive (2001), there has been renewed vigor in reducing variation and improving healthcare for all Americans.

Most of us have lived through the Disney experience. To spend a day in a Disney theme park is truly a lesson in optimizing people flow. From the moment visitors arrive at the parking lot to when they return to their rental cars, they are sequentially guided from place to place in a magical orchestration of guides, trams, ticket takers, ride operators, cartoon characters, and food servers.

Patient safety is the optimal goal in healthcare delivery. Patients rely on the fact that their healthcare providers are properly trained on the most recent technology available.

A national clinical outsourcing company prepares for pandemic flu and recognizes that clinicians have responsibilities at home, too.

Since the industry-wide wake-up call prompted by the Institute of Medicine’s landmark report To Err Is Human (2000) and the follow-up report Preventing Medication Errors (2006), patient safety has become one of the foremost concerns in healthcare, with the prevention of medication errors in acute care settings as a key priority.