HIMSS Review: Seema Verma lays out big plans; Society Foundation plays key role in Major IT Readiness Survey

At last week’s HIMSS18 meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator laid out lofty goals for the Administration. Introduced by White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, Administrator Verma recounted a story of her husband’s near fatal heart attack and the difficulty she had accessing all of his records.

She made it clear that the Administration would issue regulations against what is known as “data blocking” where health systems allow access to records only if you are a part of that system. In the age of being able to access anything on your smart phone, the state of current healthcare IT systems is unacceptable, she stated. With that theme, she announced that the Administration would end the meaningful use and the advancing care information (ACI) program as we know it today. The new focus will be on interoperability and patient access.

The new initiative will be called the MyHealthEData Initiative that aims to put “patients at the center of the US healthcare system.” While the Administrator did not offer much more detail, this is a shift from the current programs that the Administration believes add too much burden on physician practices.

With that theme, she also announced that the Administration would move to overhaul to current evaluation and management (E&M) physician documentation guidelines. CMS sought comments on the idea last Summer but did not make any final proposals. The Society has been engaged in a coalition of primary care specialties in discussions about this issue. The Society welcomes continued dialogue to revamp the current requirements to better meet physician and patient needs.

Preliminary Results of HIMMS PALTC IT Readiness Survey Revealed

Over the past year, HIMMS has engaged with the Foundation for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine to conduct a study on PALTC IT readiness. This comes with an increased focused on the PALTC sector at HIMMS over the last several years and their involvement with the LTPAC HIT Collaborative. The Society has been a collaborative partner of the HIMSS conference for the last two years.

The survey, distributed to Society members, showed preliminary positive results in increased patient satisfaction and physician workflow. It also highlighted that narrowing market for IT vendors in the PALTC space – the two leading ones being PointClickCare and MatrixCare that cover more than 80 percent of the market. Both organizations will be present for an IT roundtable at the Practice Management Section sponsored event on Wednesday, March 21 as the Society’s Annual Conference in Grapevine, Texas. Although so far, the survey has gotten more than 700 responses, it will reopen at the Annual Conference with more details will be available at the Foundation booth. This is one of the first comprehensive studies into the PALTC sector that hopes to provide data for policymakers to consider as they continue to engage in discussions on interoperability and the PALTC sector.