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ONC and HHS Make Major Splash at HIMSS
Last week, Health and Human Services announced an industry-wide pledge to improve interoperability across all Electronic Health Records and healthcare systems. The pledge consists of three parts; improving consumer access to health data, eliminating intentional data blocking, and implementing federal standards for health data interoperability. “These commitments are a major step forward in our efforts to support a healthcare system that is better, smarter, and results in healthier people,” HHS Secretary Burwell said at HIMSS 2016. The vast majority, 90 percent, of major EHR vendors have signed on.
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New to the eHI Newsletter: eNotes
Starting with next week’s edition of the eHI Newsletter, we will be adding a new feature, eNotes. eNotes is designed to encourage greater interaction between you, eHI staff, and other eHI members. Each week will feature a new message from one of our members. In order to be featured, send your letters to info@ehidc.org with the subject line “eNotes.” We invite you to submit a letter with questions, comments, or responses to articles. Staff will review and include it in the next week’s newsletter!
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Adoption of EHR Growing Despite Challenges According to ONC
In their most recent report to Congress, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) found that considerable progress has been made in the adoption of EHR and HIT interoperability between systems. ONC believes that HIT is the foundation upon which the nation’s health and wellness goals is built upon. The report lists successes of ONC in the field of HIT including; 97 percent adoption rate of EHRs by hospitals, 75 percent of HIE between providers and hospitals, among others. “Currently, there is insufficient specificity when it comes to standards implementation and not enough industry-wide testing of standards prior to nationwide deployment,” ONC found.
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CMS Endorses Interoperability for Long-Term Care and Behavioral Health
Last Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicated that they would allow states to request 90 percent matching funds for long-term care facilities, behavioral health, and substance abuse centers to purchase interoperable technology. The program bridges an information sharing divide in Medicaid by CMS to connect a wider variety of providers to HIE. In a blog post, CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt said “Technology, when widely distributed and available, enables providers to improve patient care by distributing information and best practices and leading to better experiences of care for individuals in the healthcare system. And technology can make a significant difference in the rapidly modernizing Medicaid program.”
Feds Reach Goal of Value-Based Payment Ahead of Schedule
According to Health and Human Services, 30 percent of Medicare payments are now tied to alternative payment models that emphasize quality of care over quantity of services. In a statement, HHS says that the tools provided by the Affordable Care Act allow for 10 million Medicare patients are seeing improved care almost a full year ahead of schedule. Tools such as the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation made this success possible. Accompanying the statement are a fact sheet and an actuarial analysis. “We reached this goal in partnership with the thousands of providers who collaborated with us in innovation,” said Dr. Patrick Conway, Deputy Administrator for Innovation & Quality and CMS Chief Medical Officer.
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eHI Hosts Reception at HIMSS
eHealth Initiative hosted an intimate reception at the HIMSS 2016 conference. It was extremely well attended by members that attended the conference. Attending from eHI was CEO Jennifer Covich Bordenick and VP Amy Eckenroth.
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Texas Counseling Board Rejects New Rule on Distance CounselingThe Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors rejected a proposed rule on Wednesday designed to enforce in-person counseling over widespread objections from counselors. The rule required an in-person therapy session before a therapist could provide remote services, i.e. a video call. Objections were raised by counselors from across the state. Bob Batlan, a board member, said it would have caused undue hardship on some clients, many who are low income. This case follows the 2015 Texas Medical Board ruling requiring in-person visits before telemedicine visits. Teledoc, the plaintiff in the case, filed a suit against the Board that is still pending.
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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:
AHA: Hospitals Argue Against Anthem Purchase of Cigna
FACES OF EHI:
Brian Kelly, President, Payer & Provider Solutions, Quintiles
UPCOMING EVENTS:
eHI Member Breakfast: March 15, 8am ET
Interoperability Workgroup: March 15, 3 – 4pm ET
Business and Clinical Motivators Workgroup: March 16, 2 – 3pm ET
Policy Working Group: March 22, 3 – 4pm ET
Data Analytics Workgroup: March 29, 3 – 4pm ET
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Key HIT Players Pledge to Achieve Better Patient Information Flow and AccessThe key players in the health IT arena have pledged to work together to improve the flow of health information between consumers and providers; what may very well be one giant step towards achieving systemic interoperability. Sylvia M. Burwell, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, announced at the 2016 Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference that companies that supply 90 percent of electronic health records used in hospitals, more than a dozen key stakeholder groups and five of the largest private healthcare systems have all agreed to work towards achieving three core commitments of consumer access, no information blocking and national standards. The organizations that have made this pledge represent most of the influential players within every sector in the health industry and their commitment can potentially expedite the rate of information flow and regulation adherence throughout the U.S.
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE WORKGROUPS:
Interoperability: March 15, 3 – 4pm ET
The March Interoperability Work Group call will have presentations on solutions that HIEs have implemented to address the consent and data protection requirements of 42 CFR Part2. We will also have an update on outreach to identify examples of consent and privacy data sharing practices.
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Twitter Potential for Cancer Trials
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that Twitter may help boost the number of enrollees in cancer trials. In a new study, the researchers analyzed 1500 tweets containing the term “lung cancer” sent in January 2015. Fifty-six percent regarded mental support or prevention, 18 percent were about clinical trials, and 42 percent were sent by individuals. “Twitter provides a promising and novel avenue for exploring how cancer patients conceptualize and communicate about their health, and may have the potential to promote much-needed clinical trial recruitment,” according to Mina S. Sedrak, one of the authors. Most shocking of all was that virtually no tweets were used for recruitment.
NQF Report Provides HIT Patient Safety Measures
The National Quality Forum (NQF) released a report on how to measure health IT safety as it relates to patient care. As information technology tools and solutions become increasingly integrated into the healthcare delivery system, new challenges to patient safety and the quality of care have emerged. Potential safety risks may relate to IT design, use or implementation, and may result in flaws that can adversely affect the accuracy of patient information and clinical decisions. The NQF has identified patient safety risks associated with use of health IT by addressing three high level-concepts: Safe Health IT, Using Health IT Safely and Improving Patient Safety. The report was done by a multi-stakeholder committee of twenty-two health IT and safety experts and examines the challenges to effectively measuring HIT safety, “The Committee recognizes that there are many hurdles to effective measurement of HIT safety, including these potential cultural barriers, as well as collection of data, associated costs, and other practical limitations along with a rapidly evolving sociotechnical environment.” The report however, infers that these challenges should not hinder research, technological advancements and other meaningful efforts to measure and improve the safety of HIT.
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