Joint Commission recommendations on how to: make effective communication an organizational priority to protect the safety of patients, address patients’ communication needs across the continuum of care, and pursue policy changes that promote improved practitioner-patient communication.

Seeking to have questions answered regarding a merger’s impact on physicians and patients.

Every physician with an Internet connection can now use electronic prescribing at no charge.

Report recommends a public awareness campaign, improved professional education and training, and reimbursement changes in order to improve end-of-life care.

The campaign seeks to continue to save lives, raise awareness about the problem of variability in the quality of health care, and expand the national infrastructure for supporting hospitals in making improvements.

Appraising which performance measures should be used and how they should be updated; which payment policy should be used to reward performance; and which key implementation issues need to be addressed, such as data and information technology requirements.