The LAN was launched in March 2015 to accelerate the adoption of alternative payment models (APM) and drive alignment in payment reform approaches across the public and private sectors. These payment models have the potential to realign treatment and payment incentives to improve health care quality while containing cost. Through the LAN’s collaborative structure, more than 7,100 participants are taking action towards APM adoption and implementation. The LAN has adopted the goal of tying 50% of U.S. health care payments to APMs by the end of 2018. In 2016, the LAN embarked on its first national APM Measurement Effort to assess the adoption of APMs and the progress toward the LAN’s goals. The 2018 LAN APM Measurement Effort marks the third year of this initiative.

Opioid Crisis Legislation

A bipartisan bill has been released meant to address the growing concerns around the opioid crisis.  The document is 660 pages long, and addresses topics such as Medicaid provisions, FDA and controlled substance provisions, offsets, other Medicare provisions, and public health provisions.

The current version of the full bill can be downloaded below.  

Opioid Use Disorder: Endpoints for Demonstrating Effectiveness of Drugs for Medication-Assisted Treatment Guidance for Industry

This draft guidance, when finalized, will represent the current thinking of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) on this topic. This guidance is intended to assist sponsors in developing drugs for medication-assisted treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD). This guidance addresses the clinical endpoints acceptable to demonstrate effectiveness of such drugs.

The full draft can be viewed below.  

eHealth Initiative staff and members are regularly meeting with key legislators and congressional staff to educate policymakers on the issues our members are most passionate about.

We have been tackling the opioid epidemic and held a series of hill meetings, led a roundtable discussion, and completed an opioid issue brief. Legislators are asking about our members' use of analytics and data to target at-risk populations and track the opioid crisis. Follow the link to share your organizational initiatives on opioids.

What's happening:

• On June 22, 2018, HR 6, the SUPPORT Patients and Communities Act of 2018 passed the house with 396 ‘yeas’ to 14 ‘nays’. The largely bipartisan bill is co-sponsored by the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative Walden, and a ranking member of the same committee, Representative Pallone. We are waiting to see if the bill passes the Senate. For more information on HR 6 and other opioid related legislation, see the links below. 
   
• In the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s hearing, “Improving the Coordination and Quality of Substance Use Disorder Treatment,” Dr. H. Westley Clark, a Dean’s Executive Professor at Santa Clara University, compared the Opioid Prevention and Patient Safety Act to the Facebook scandal involving Cambridge Analytics. Representative Mullin, the bill’s sponsor, was quick to fight back against that allegation.
   
• At the Senate Finance’s “Rural Health Care in America: Challenges and Opportunities” hearing, Ms. Karen Murphy, PhD, RN, the Executive Vice President, Chief Innovation Officer, and Founding Director of the Glenn Steele Institute of Health Innovation, along with other witnesses, encouraged Congress to help rural hospitals use technological innovation to move away from traditional care delivery and into the value-based payment models. 
   
• The FDA has recently published a document that provides guidance to researchers on the use of EHRs in FDA-regulated clinical trials. 
   
• Ed Simcox, Deputy Chief Technical Officer of the Department of Health and Human Services, will be taking over duties for Bruce Greenstein, the current Chief Technical Officer, who will be heading back into the private sector with the LHC Group. 
   
• Senators will not be getting air miles in August! Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cancelled three weeks of the August Recess. 
   
• The Department of Veterans Affairs may have decided to scrap planned EPIC software instead of paying the multi-million dollar contract for the Medical Appointment Scheduling system. 

Opioid legislation to watch...

• S.2456 Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act 2.0
• S.581 Jessie’s Law
• S.2680 OCRA
• S.2460 Every Prescription Conveyed Securely Act
• S. 2901 Expanding Telehealth Response to Ensure Addiction treatment (eTREAT) Act
• S. 2912 Opioid Addiction Treatment Programs Enhancement Act
• HR. 3528 Every Prescription Conveyed Securely Act
• HR. 6 SUPPORT Patients and Communities Act of 2018
• HR. 5311 House Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act 2.0
• HR. 3545 Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act

Who should we add to our policy meeting list? Email Emma@ehidc.org

Enclosed are the comments of eHealth Initiative (eHI) on the ONC Draft Trusted Exchange Framework (TEF) and the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI). eHI is in a unique position to comment and offer insight on this issue. Our viewpoints are broad and consensus-based. We are the only independent non-profit, multi-stakeholder coalition dedicated to improving the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through the use of technology and health information. Moreover, eHI’s work and its membership have built needed coalitions and moved the health IT field forward at critical junctures.

Providers are dedicating approximately $39 billion per year to comply with the administrative aspects of regulatory compliance in these domains. American Hospital Association assesses the Regulatory Burden on Health Systems, Hospitals and Post-acute Care Providers. AHA regulatory-overload-report.pdf

October 2, 2017 letter from doctor's organizations to the top members of the House Energy & Commerce proposing that CMS be extended MACRA flexibility powers for an additional three years.

On 8/24/17, eHI responded to a request for public comment on ONC's implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act trusted exchange framework and common agreement provisions.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 3, 2017) — Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), today announced 15 appointments to the new Health Information Technology (HIT) Advisory Committee.

Release from HHS: The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) established the Quality Payment Program for eligible clinicians. Under the Quality Payment Program, eligible clinicians can participate via one of two tracks: Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs); or the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). We began implementing the Quality Payment Program through rulemaking for calendar year (CY) 2017. This rule provides proposed updates for the second and future years of the Quality Payment Program. DATES: To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on August 21, 2017.