14th Annual LTPAC HIT Summit Takes Steps Toward Interoperability in a Value-Based Healthcare World

Since 2005, members of the LTPAC HIT Collaborative—a partnership of public-private group of stakeholder organizations representing associations, providers, policy-makers, researchers, vendors, and professionals with a mission to coordinate the sector and maintain alignment with the national priorities—have gathered to discuss how to move adoption and use of health information technology (HIT) in the post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) space.

This year’s Summit looked beyond the PALTC space and invited the acute care partners to be part of that conversation. Representatives from emergency medicine, private payors, and key health IT vendors all discussed ways to share information and work together to improve care transitions and patient outcomes. Multiple panels discussed how the recently announced Data Element Library (DEL) will help drive exchange of data necessary in the current value-based healthcare environment.

In his keynote address, Don Rucker, MD, an emergency room physician and current head of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), encouraged the PALTC sector to stay involved and comment on the various requests for information (RFI) that CMS and ONC have released. He stressed that the 21st Century Cures legislation takes important steps to prevent data blocking and encourages the use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to ensure data flow between clinical and facility providers. He stressed that patients and patient access to records are still at the center of these efforts.

In a separate keynote address, Kate Goodrich, MD, CMS’ Director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality (CCSQ) and Chief Medical Officer (CMO), stressed the Agency’s focus on reducing the administrative burden for clinicians and facility providers alike. As an example, she stated that CMS is exploring ways to remove the reporting burden for clinicians participating in the Quality Payment Program’s (QPP) Merit-Based Payment System (MIPS).

One of the ways the Agency has thought about accomplishing that is to tie clinician MIPS scores to the facilities they practice in—similar to the proposals CMS finalized for hospitalists a year ago. She acknowledged that several challenges remain, but the Agency hopes to work with the Collaborative and other stakeholders on these proposals. It’s also possible that the upcoming physician fee schedule proposed rule will provide additional insight into the Agency’s plans. That rule is scheduled be released sometime in early July.

Dr. Goodrich further addressed concerns about the lack of incentives for HIT adoption in the PALTC space. She acknowledged that there are no current Alternative Payment Models (APMs) that allow skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and PALTC-based clinicians to take on risk-bearing contracts. However, she stated that there is absolutely room for such models in the post-acute space. She encouraged the Collaborative to discuss ways such models could take shape and bring those ideas to CMS and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).

Building on that recommendation, the Collaborative ended the Summit with a Town Hall to discuss parameters for a potential PALTC APM. The Collaborative plans to take these ideas beyond the Summit with a workgroup to help develop and bring these ideas forward.

The Society is one of the original conveners of the LTPAC HIT Collaborative and has been a strategic partner each of the last 14 years. Individuals representing the Society at this year’s Summit included members Terry O’Malley, MD, CMD, Dheeraj Mahajan, MD, CMD, and John Derr, RPh, as well as Executive Director Chris Laxton, CAE, and Director of Public Policy and Advocacy Alex Bardakh, MPP. The Society looks forward to working with the Collaborative and all of its partners to advance HIT in the PALTC space.