Healthday News reports on recent data showing Americans increasingly are using online physician reviews and asks “whether it’s a good thing” that people “are choosing their doctor the same way they settle on a car or TV.” 

Healthcare costs have been rising faster than inflation and even faster than college tuition. At the same time the quality of health care in the U.S. has been uneven at best.  Many look to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as an opportunity for information technology and other innovative approaches to improve both the efficiency and quality of health services.  What are the key elements of this transformation? What’s working? What are some significant barriers? 

Healthcare costs have been rising faster than inflation and even faster than college tuition. At the same time the quality of health care in the U.S. has been uneven at best.  Many look to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as an opportunity for information technology and other innovative approaches to improve both the efficiency and quality of health services.  What are the key elements of this transformation? What’s working? What are some significant barriers?  

“My day started at 3:45 a.m.,” said Chester “Chet” Burrell. And that’s typical for the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield president and CEO. He spends his first two hours every day answering emails and making important decisions in the quiet of his home office before heading to work for a typical 12-hour day of meetings, presentations and perhaps a speaking engagement. But Burrell says none of it seems like work to him. Running CareFirst is his passion and mission in life. He encouraged students at the University of Maryland’s Robert H.

The Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS) at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business has helped create a new resource to improve the quality and safety of healthcare for children.

 January 28, 2013 The Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS) Research Fellow Chad Konchak is part of the first place winning team for the 2013 Healthcare Informatics Innovator Awards for the Electronic Surveillance System that Flags Undiagnosed Hypertensive Patients. Konchak is currently Director of Clinical Analytics at Northshore University Health System.

Stanford Graduate Students Capture Competition Hosted by UMD Smith School Watch video highlights