"My NGC" and "My NQMC" Added to AHRQ's National Guideline and Quality Measures Websites - (ECRI Institute US) - 15-OCT-2012 AHRQ has released two personalization tools aimed at making , National Guideline Clearinghouse and National Quality Measures Clearinghouse easier to use. The tools allow registered users to access recently viewed items, save favorite summaries or quality measures, and sign up to receive custom e-mail alerts.

HHS Announces Next Steps To Promote Use Of Electronic Health Records - (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)) - 15-OCT-2012 HHS announced the initiation of HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health), which will enable doctors, health care professionals and hospitals to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments when they adopt and meaningfully use certified electronic health record (EHR) technology.

News Resources

Child-Only Coverage and the Affordable Care Act: Lessons for Policymakers - (Commonwealth Fund) - A new Issue Brief from examines new state legislative and regulatory action to promote the availability of child-only policies in response to some insurers having ceased to offer coverage to children in need of individual health insurance.

Improving The Impact Of Comparative Effectiveness Studies - A new study in Health Affairs examines the causes behind the failure of some comparative effectiveness studies to change medical practice.

Leveraging Mobile Health (mHealth) Solutions for Health Services Research Upcoming Webinars - A session of this series will be held: Date: November 5, 2012 Time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm ET Moderator: Lynn Etheredge (George Washington University) Faculty: Bill Riley, PhD (NCI SRTB) - Data Analysis and Evaluation; Greg Samsa, PhD (Duke) - Dissemination & Rapid Learning Cycles; Ida Sim, MD, PhD (UCSF) - Practical Visualization Tools

New Style and New Content for ClinicalTrials.gov - The National Library of Medicine has developed a beta website for ClinicalTrials.gov that includes a new integrated homepage and updated graphic design. The new site interface will replace the previous interface after appropriate testing and additional minor changes.

Patient-Reported Outcomes Essential to Comparative Effectiveness Research - (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)) - An article in the "Journal of Clinical Oncology" recommends that patient-reported symptoms and health-related quality of life measures should be assessed in comparative effectiveness studies designed to generate new evidence about cancer treatment

Principles for Conducting Comparative Effectiveness Research (Tufts Medical Center) - (Tufts University) - This blog entry announces the publication of a new article which examines 13 principles and actions that were developed for planning and conducting comparative effectiveness research.

Quality Of Patient Care Improved By Electronic Health Records - Medical News Today reports on an article which appeared in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The study demonstrated that the electronic health record enhances the quality of patient care in a community-based setting with multiple payers.

Why Health, Poverty, and Community Development Are Inseparable - (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)) - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced the publication, which is available by request from their website. The book, Investing in What Works for America's Communities, examines the ways in which poverty and poor health are linked, and the strategies that are being developed to reduce poverty in America.