Atrius Health announced today that it has joined several of the nation’s largest health care organizations in forming the Health Care Transformation Task Force, a new private-sector alliance dedicated to accelerating the transformation of the U.S. health care system to value-based business and clinical models aligned with improving outcomes and lowering costs. Emily Brower, Executive Director of Accountable Care Programs for Atrius Health, co-leads the ACO workgroup within the task force.

The Task Force has set a goal to move 75 percent of their business into value-based arrangements that focus on the Triple Aim of better health,

When I meet with my patients in a nutrition counseling session, they often ask me, “So, what do YOU eat?” I tell them about my favorite grocery items, the staples that I purchase week in and week out to use as the base of many of my meals, and they are amazed that eating healthy foods can be so simple.

I thought it would be helpful to expand my list with the help of my nutrition colleagues at Harvard Vanguard,

Happy 2015 from the SMArt Kids Shared Medical Appointment at Burlington! We have had a successful fall with four informative and fun sessions with our SMArt Kids. We have been fortunate to have our nutritionist Linda Germaine-Miller and Chip Wilder from behavioral health present each month to work with our families.

In September, we kicked off the school year with an introductory lesson about our SMArt Kids’ goals, myplate.gov and portion distortion.

A cardiac arrhythmia happens when your heart is beating (or contracting) in an irregular pattern. At one time or another, you’ve probably learned to place your fingers gently against your carotid artery in your neck to feel your pulse or heart beating. Usually, you can feel a steady pattern of beats as you count. But if you have an arrhythmia, the pulse or rhythm of your heart may be unpredictable or too fast or too slow.