Health IT roundup: Sharing data, tracking medical errors and revealing costs

The Wall Street Journal: The Journal's Informed Patient column reports that the "non-profit Institute for Safe Medication Practices, which is certified by the federal government to collect error reports and other information about quality breaches, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists are launching a new National Alert Network for Serious Medication Errors." The network will spread the word of dangerous medical errors in hopes that doctors and nurses will learn from mistakes and prevent future blunders (Landro, 1/19).

Fort Collins Coloradoan: A Colorado state lawmaker is expected to introduce legislation to create "an online portal allowing Colorado residents to research the cost of specific medical procedures at hospitals statewide." The database would include information collected from insurers and hospitals, in an effort to encourage state residents to seek greater value in health care services (Magill, 1/19).

ComputerWorld/San Francisco Chronicle: "The e-health revolution got a shot in the arm earlier this month when health care network giant Kaiser Permanente and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs declared a months-long pilot program of sharing patient electronic health records (EHR) a success. … Such EHR efforts are likely to become far more widespread as the $17 billion designated for incentive payments for e-health record projects in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act becomes available" (Mearian, 1/18).