Acombination of factors-rapid advancing technology, the expansion of medical archiving across medical specialties, and imaging as a key component in the development of HIEs-is moving imaging informatics forward towards new innovations. In this month's cover story, which begins on page 8, Editor-in-Chief Mark Hagland interviews five imaging informatics pioneers, and presents the big picture of how these changes are influencing the strategic landscape of this vital sector, as well as profiles leading provider organizations that have leveraged innovations to advance their strategic visions.

On page 18, Senior Contributing Editor David Raths examines what CIOs are doing to meet state government health IT legislation, with an eye on what it means for patient privacy and security, technology requirements, and payment reform that go beyond federal mandates.

The question of economic viability of health information exchanges has become more and more important as HIEs gain a foothold in many regions across the U.S. In the feature story on page 24 Associate Editor Jennifer Prestigiacomo analyzes the findings of a report recently released by the Washington, D.C.-based National eHealth Collaborative, which presents case studies of 12 economically sustainable HIEs nationwide.

This month's Quality Perspective on page 36 looks at major Medicare reimbursement changes that may be on the horizon, stemming from a proposed rule for the Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System. Mark Hagland discusses the implications with Jane Metzger, principal researcher at the Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Practices, a division of the Falls Church, Va.-based CSC, who with research analyst Caitlin Lorincz has co-authored a report on performance-based reimbursement.

This issue's Expert's Corner on page 42 takes an inside look at how a team of clinicians, researchers, and informatics personnel at the Mayo Clinic developed an ICU data mart, an integrated database where all pertinent data regarding critically ill patients are stored in near real-time.

Healthcare Informatics 2011 November;28(11):04