The primary focus of CHIME’s Public Policy Program is to advance the role of CIOs and other senior healthcare IT leaders by providing educational, collaborative, and advocacy programs to improve the quality of care. Through our CHIME Policy Chats, we hope to inform CIOs about advocacy efforts and learning opportunities; provide updates on legislative and regulatory issues; and educate them on what CHIME is doing to help shape the implementation of federal and state policies. The discussions feature Sharon Canner, senior director of advocacy, and Jeff Smith, assistant director of advocacy for CHIME.
Chapter 1
- NHIT Week & CHIME’s public policy retreat
- ONC’s environment scan
- The push to extend Stage 2
- Senators’ letter to HHS — “It’s a testament to the work CHIME has done”
- HIMSS’ call to action
- The divisive state of healthcare
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Bold Statements
They’re doing an environmental scan on how different groups in different parts of the country are treating patient matching. That’s a really exciting development, and we’re working with them to get input from our members on how this is dealt with and looking to see if we can evolve to some standards on that.
This is really an important first step. For a long time, CHIME and other organizations have been clamoring for the government to take a lead role in this.
An emerging issue in the policy world is how the government is going to start looking at patient safety and how they’re going to be looking at mobile medical devices and mobile medical apps.
When you start to delve into the nitty-gritty of regulations with Capitol Hill, they are so completely inundated with different issues that it’s often hard to get very granular on big policies.
It’s incumbent upon organizations like CHIME and others to continue the education on the Hill and in the federal agencies about why this is needed. Because we all understand here in Washington that healthcare, no matter what the topic, is very divisive.
Gamble: Hi Jeff and Sharon. Thank you, as always, for taking the time to speak with us.
Canner: We’re glad to do it.
Gamble: Okay, so in the brief conversation we had before we started this call, we talked a little bit about NHIT week, and I know there’s a lot that there that our listeners are interested in hearing about. So why don’t you start with an overview of some of the highlights from the event and some of the things that really stood out to you.
Canner: Certainly, and I should mention that this is the eighth national celebration of HIT week, and CHIME’s fifth year participating. There were a number of activities. There was a technology showcase on both the House and the Senate side — CHIME participated in that, as well as a number of other groups. On Wednesday night there was an awards reception. It was at that point that CHIME presented its fifth annual State CIO award. It went to Geoff Brown from Inova Health System in Fairfax County, Virginia.
I know HIMSS held a policy summit, but I’d like to talk also about the particular activities that CHIME was involved in that I think your listeners might be interested. This year, in conjunction with Health IT Week, we held our public policy retreat. This is our third such event. It gave us an opportunity to look at what we do and how we address public policy. Basically, it’s to get our members engaged in our interaction with federal agencies, our interaction on Capitol Hill, our strategic partners, and finally, StateNet.
There are two major events or issues — and I think Jeff will get into one of them a little bit more — on which we’ve worked very long and hard, and one is patient data matching and certainly all of the challenges associated with that. It really is a barrier to health information exchange. As part of the work that we have done — and we’ve also worked with our partners on this — ONC recently announced through a blog that they’re doing an environmental scan on how different groups in different parts of the country are treating patient matching. That’s a really exciting development, and we’re working with them to get input from our members on how this is dealt with and looking to see if we can evolve to some standards on that. I think that’s really a big question.
The second issue — and I know that you have a great deal of interest in this — is Stage 2 and the timing, and the very tight crunch we’re dealing with on that. Starting last May, CHIME launched a major effort to call to the attention of CMS and ONC the challenges that the current timeframe presents. Just recently, a group of Senators sent a letter to HHS to urge a one-year delay. So we’re pleased about that. Obviously there are lots and lots of efforts to go with respect to that, but I think that is really a major step forward.
Certainly there were a number of other activities with other organizations working within Health IT Week, but I just think overall it’s been a really great opportunity to point to successes and to look ahead at the challenges of implementing the HITECH Act — the incentive program being one of them. So I think I’ll stop there. I think that’s a pretty long answer to your one question, Kate, but an excellent one, and thanks for putting that forward.
Gamble: Sure. So the two big topics that you brought up — patient data matching and Stage 2, obviously these are huge at the forefront of CIOs, and we’d expect those to be pretty highly discussed. It’s interesting what you said about ONC doing the environmental scan. How is that going to work? Is it like a call for organizations that are doing patient data matching or have some kind of a solution to it to come forward? How does that work?
Canner: They’ve actually reached out to us. Through our StateNet workgroup, we have queried a number of states to really look at how it’s being done in various parts of the country, and ONC is talking with different organizations. Obviously there is also some commercial proprietary software out there that really addresses that. There’s just so much happening on patient matching, but that is the problem. There are so many different solutions, and it’s costly to correct the errors. It’s also a patient safety issue.
Smith: I would just add to Sharon’s comments that this is really an important first step. For a long time, CHIME and other organizations have been clamoring for the government to take a lead role in this, and I think that while it is a simple environmental scan, ONC is dedicating significant resources to this. They’ve even hired a firm to take a lead in helping to compile a very thorough and hopefully well-researched environmental scan that will hopefully serve as a foundation to really understand where the pieces on the board sit and to understand exactly how organizations are performing patient data matching. They’ve actually segmented four or so different questionnaires for providers, for vendors, for HIE vendors, and there’s one other segment that they’re going to be asking. So I do think that it’s going to be comprehensive review of things. We’ll all be very interested to see how this turns out.
Gamble: This is something where obviously the need is there, and like you said, a lot of people have been waiting for the government to step up. I think this will be really interesting to watch unfold. Now going back to Health IT Week, Jeff, what were some of the things that really stood out to you, in terms of specific events or just the big takeaways?
Smith: I think Sharon really did cover the absolute highlights for us. While the patient data matching announcement wasn’t made during NHIT Week, it came out right before it, and then just the amount of work that went into raising Meaningful Use extension as a priority. I know it was a call to action with HIMSS inside of their organization; they made it a priority, and that was due in large part to a lot of HIMSS members calling that to the floor as a priority policy issue.
This year, as in recent history, there’s been a very decent amount of activities and attendance at the policy summit. There were several high-level speakers from the FDA and FCC that spoke to the crowd, because I think an emerging issue in the policy world is how the government is going to start looking at patient safety and how they’re going to be looking at mobile medical devices and mobile medical apps. So I think a lot of the conversation was indicative of some of these emerging policy conversations that in some way touch Meaningful Use and in other ways are completely separate from Meaningful Use. So I think that, in many ways, indicates a shifting of priorities as far as Washington is concerned.
Gamble: With the news that just came out with the group of Senators sending the letter pushing for the Meaningful Use Stage 2 extension, I’m thinking that has to be pretty encouraging. Since there’s been a real need for government to understand the pressure this places on organizations and CIOs, I would think this is a pretty big win.
Smith: Absolutely. I think that it is a win for all kinds of reasons. When you start to delve into the nitty-gritty of regulations with Capitol Hill, they are so completely inundated with different issues that it’s often hard to get very granular on big policies. I think the fact that 17 senators signed off on what is a relatively simple ask in extending the allowable reporting period for Meaningful Use by 12 months next year is a testament to the work that CHIME has done and that its partners in the healthcare IT stakeholder community have done, because getting lawmakers to understand the nuance of Meaningful Use, and by extension, some of the proposed solutions to some of the more troublesome aspects of Meaningful Use, has been a very big lift. But I think it’s one that is extremely positive.
We’re going to keep pushing. We are very support of the letter. I think it’s incumbent upon organizations like CHIME and others who have been pushing the administration to try and do this, to continue the education on the Hill and in the federal agencies about why this is needed. Because we all understand here in Washington that healthcare, no matter what the topic, is very divisive — no more so than now. And I think every time Sharon and I get on a phone call we say, ‘healthcare has never been so divided,’ but right now we’re staring at government shutdown and possibly a default on the nation’s debt, largely because certain lawmakers want to completely defund the Affordable Care Act. Anytime you speak about health policy in this town you do run a risk of artificially inflating the issue.
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