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We are yet to come down from our eHI conference high and the feedback is positive.
The program started in full gear with a welcome from eHI CEO, Jennifer Covich, joined later by Dr. Karen DeSalvo from ONC, for an interesting conversation on the current and prospective state of health policy as it relates to technological advancements in healthcare. Dr. DeSalvo expressed her optimism in the industry’s ability to optimize the use of IT to achieve better patient outcomes by stating, “Because of the success in adoption of Health IT, we want to move from rewarding for use to rewarding for better care with HIT use.”
Following this session was another riveting discussion on the Rise of Alternative Payment Models and Value-Based Care: Perspectives from Executives, led by Dr. Sam Ho, then-Chair of eHI’s Board of Directors. Dr. Ho provided a very articulate and comprehensive presentation on the key factors that will drive and inhibit the sustained adoption of alternative payment methods. He concluded with the position that there is still a lot to be done from a policy framework perspective, expressing, “Meaningful Use is really necessary, but woefully insufficient. There needs to be more of a focus on clinical use and gaps of care in demographics, practice management and integration.”
One of the liveliest sessions took place in the afternoon with a debate regarding the effects of the 2016 election on the healthcare space. Bruce Mehlman and Dave Thomas from Mehlman, Castaghetti, Rosen & Thomas walked through ten questions for the current election season, including “will Trump supporters amount to Trump voters?” and “Can Marco Rubio unite the GOP establishment?” eHI CEO, Jennifer Covich, moderated a panel in the afternoon on Breaking the Glass Ceiling with women in C-suite positions. The last two panels of the day addressed the precision medicine initiative and the status of the winners from the August iThrive Challenge.
Day two of the conference began with a captivating panel discussion on Aging in Place. Conference attendees engaged with panel members on various topics. Speaker, Ms. Nora Super, Executive Director, White House Conference on Aging, remarked, “It’s a myth that older people don’t use technology; they’re the ones posting all the pics on Facebook! What they need is health technology that is accessible and simple to use.”
The momentum and energy seemed to increase with each session as the panels led riveting discussions on Defining Success, sponsored by Allscripts; Innovative Technology in Healthcare, sponsored by Xerox; Advancing Interoperability through Digital Health, sponsored by Validic, Privacy and Analytics in the Era of Big Data, sponsored by PHEMI, and Provider Data: A Fundamental Need for Collaboration, sponsored by CAQH.
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Upcoming Events:
Don’t miss next week’s workgroups!
Interoperability Workgroup – Tuesday, February 18, 2:00 pm, EST
On the agenda for this month’s call is outreach to additional organizations along with next steps for requesting examples for inclusion in the Interactive Interoperability Resource Center.
Business and Clinical Motivators Workgroup - Wednesday, February 17, 2:00 pm, EST
LabCorp is embarking on a new consumer initiative that will offer direct access to lab testing in a thoughtful and compliant manner. Tom Kaminski, Vice President, Corporate Strategy, will discuss LabCorp’s efforts and strategies to this truly disrupting and patient-empowering effort and share how one of the country’s leading laboratory testing companies is approaching real world interoperability
Faces of eHI:
Brian Kelly, President, Payer & Provider Solutions, Quintiles
Member Spotlight:
What EHRs need: Physicians offer solutions at town hall - American Medical Association
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Changes to the Senate HELP Bill
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The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee released its health IT bill revisions for markup on Tuesday. A couple changes to the language include dropping a provision that mandates certified EHRs have the ability to conduct “trusted exchange” of information with multiple competing EHRs. The draft also drops a proposal to combine the Health IT Standards and Policy committees into one body. It also makes several small changes to the TRUST IT Act, which creates a star-rating system for EHRs based on security, usability and interoperability. Additionally, the committee revealed that the bill is named "Improving Health Information Technology Act" and was trimmed down to 51 pages from the prior 68. The bill will likely struggle to pass the full Senate without a novel way to fund medical research. Read the full and updated version of the bill here.
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2017 Presidential Budget Request Drops in at $4.7 Trillion
On Tuesday, President Obama submitted his final budget to the US Congress. Included in the budget are requests for:
- $82 million for ONC;
- $1.7 billion to fold behavioral health IT into Meaningful Use;
- And, $51 million for healthcare cybersecurity
The Office of the National Coordinator is requesting that Congress fund four big things: “establishment of the Health IT Safety Collaboratory--the watered-down version of its earlier Safety Center concept; authority to require more transparency in contracts and capabilities of certified EHR products; more authority to stop information blocking; and something regarding "governance certification.” In total, HHS budget considerations come to $82.8 billion in discretionary funding, or 1.7 percent of the federal budget.
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Majority of High-ranking Hospitals In At Least One ACA Exchange
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An analysis from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) shows that almost all highly ranked regional hospitals participate in at least one Affordable Care Act marketplace plan network. Even though this is the case, network participation still “declined significantly” this year. Utilizing the Best Regional Hospitals listing from US News and World Reports, researchers examined how networks are changing in the ACA exchanges. RWJF researchers found that 97 percent of the ranked hospitals were in-network with at least one marketplace plan in 2015, increasing to 96 percent in 2016.
Unfortunately, the findings are not universally positive. So far this year, only 43 percent of hospitals either maintained or increased the number of marketplace plans in which they participated. Researchers found that 57 percent participated in fewer networks.
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HHS Proposes Changes to Confidentiality Rules for Substance Use Disorder Records
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The Department of Health and Human Services proposed revisions to regulations regarding patient confidentiality that develop information exchange for substance use disorder records on Friday.
Part 2 of the Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records regulations, the current rule, requires patient consent for providers to disclose records related to substance use disorders. This rule came into force in 1975, during a time when many feared or avoided treatment due to stigma and the potential for prosecutions related to substance abuse. According to a statement, the latest update to the rule occurred in 1987. The proposed revisions encourage facilitation of information exchange while still honoring the privacy concerns for those seeking treatment.
HHS indicated that the rule requires updating in order to keep pace with the rapidly changing healthcare delivery environment, particularly the increase in electronic exchange of patient data. “This proposal will help patients with substance use disorders fully participate and benefit from a health care delivery system that’s better, smarter and healthier, while protecting their privacy,” said Secretary Burwell.
HHS is seeking comments on the proposed rule that must be received by April 11.
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2016 Obamacare Numbers Released
According to a press release by Health and Human Services, 12.7 million Americans subscribed to health insurance coverage through the federal exchanges in 2015-2016. This surpasses expectations according to the numbers. The federal government exchange operates in 37 states, with coverage closing for 2016 on January 31.
In a statement, HHS Secretary Burwell said, "Open Enrollment for 2016 is over and we are happy to report it was a success. Instead of waiting until the last moment, as we saw in previous years, people signed up for coverage by the first deadline because they wanted coverage to start as soon as possible." She pointed out that four million new customers enrolled this year.
Consumers aged 18-24 accounted for 2.7 million of enrollees, according to the Secretary.
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