The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is making available Spanish versions of eight free guides that patients can use when talking with their clinicians.

When Adrienne Edens became chief information officer at St. Luke's Health System, a four-hospital organization based in Boise, Idaho, one of her first tasks was the creation of a business intelligence strategy. "We had none," she recalls. "We had a decision support system with patient accounting that produced reactive, retrospective reports." Not only that, the very nature of the organization was changing, as St. Luke's began acquiring physician practices. "It was a whole new business...

The federal government in February and April awarded HITECH grants for the creation of 60 regional extension centers to assist providers in adopting electronic health records. By early summer, 14 RECs reported they had signed contracts to provide services to primary care providers.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will hold a public meeting in Chicago on Oct. 7 as federal officials continue to study whether HIPAA privacy protections for mental health information should be strengthened by broadening the definition of "psychotherapy notes" to include test data.

The American Medical Association is reminding members that it has set up a Web site to help thousands of physicians file claims against insurer UnitedHealth Group, which in January settled an AMA-filed lawsuit for $350 million.

The Joint Commission in 2011 will offer a "Primary Care Home" option to ambulatory organizations for accreditation of their medical home programs.

In early October 2009, 57 hard drives belonging to BlueCross and BlueShield of Tennessee were stolen. By mid-March 2010, the insurer had identified nearly 522,000 members whose data may have been compromised and offered them a variety of free credit and identity protection services depending on the risk level.

Medical diagnostic imaging vendor Carestream Health has acquired Quantum Medical Imaging, which sells complementary applications, for an undisclosed price.

Emdeon Inc., a vendor of revenue cycle management software and claims clearinghouse services, will acquire Chamberlin Edmonds & Associates, which provides specialized insurance eligibility and enrollment services to hospitals, for $260 million.

Mayo Regional Hospital, a critical access hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, will implement electronic health records and integrated practice management software in its eight owned physician practices.