Hospitals strive to have the right culture, particularly when it comes to patient safety, but measuring improvement can be challenging. It’s not enough to strive for a health culture, says one expert. You also have to know if you’re getting any closer to your goal.

Culture is one of the most important parts of any organization. Culture plays an active role in determining productivity, results, how an organization is viewed and how it solves problems. Nowhere is this more true and important than in hospitals and health systems, where culture quite literally translates to a safer environment for patient care.

The National Quality Forum (NQF) has issued a new report on health IT safety and how to measure it.

This article examines some of the important features of a patient portal and the security features necessary to protect patient information. It also reviews what meaningful use criteria is as it is set forth by CMS.

According to the CDC, each year between 5 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. population will contract the flu and many patients will seek medical care in ambulatory health care settings. Although health care-associated flu infections can occur in any healthcare setting where patients are seeking care, these patients commonly show up in physician practices where the flu is also circulating in the community. (Requires registration for free account)