Dr. Peter Pronovost and Eric Vohr have signed a deal for "The Checklist" with Meghan Stevenson at Hudson Street Press. The deal was negotiated by Larry Kirshbaum and Meg Thompson at LJK Literary Management.

The book will explore how Pronovost developed a simple checklist that changed emergency rooms around the country, signaling that health care reform may be the next big story. Today Wal-Mart Stores announced a plan to sell cheaper tools for maintaining electronic health records and President Barack Obama's economic plan includes "$19 billion of incentives" to help the medical industry digitize.

Here's more from Saturday Evening Post article about Pronovost's checklist: "In December 2006, after 18 months of implementing checklists across the state of Michigan, a landmark paper appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine citing the results. Quarterly infection rates dropped to zero, placing ICU performance ratings in the 90th percentile nationally. Administrators estimated that the system saved $175 million and more than 1,500 lives, all due to five simple steps on a checklist." (Photo via Hopkins Medical News)