Medicare Access Archives - Cambridge Management GroupCambridge Management Group

HHS wants to know how to best measure EHR interoperability

April 11, 2016by Robert Whitcomb in Uncategorized tagged CHIP, HHS, Medicare Access, National Coordinator for Health IT, ONC

“Professor Butts and the Self-Operating Napkin (1931),” by Rube Goldberg.

Healthcare Dive reports:

“HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has put out a call for input on how best to measure progress toward {EHR} interoperability that supports improved healthcare and smarter spending.
“The call comes as a result of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), which named interoperability a national objective and directed HHS to collaborate with health IT stakeholders to establish metrics to determine if and when this objective is met.”

“Measuring progress and addressing the roadblocks toward interoperability will be critical, as despite all the committments and best intentions, the goal has been elusive and we still don’t have it. Some vendors suggest ‘it’s never going to happen.”‘

The ONC’s latest request seeks health IT experts’ thoughts on how to measure interoperability and keep HHS on pace in meeting the objectives established in the Roadmap and the Federal Health IT Strategic plan.

The public comment period is open until June 3.

Some senators want to expand telemedicine service via Medicare

February 4, 2016by Robert Whitcomb in Uncategorized tagged America’s Health Insurance Plans, American Heart Association, American Medical Association, CONNECT Act, Kaiser Permanente, Medicare, Medicare Access, Medicare Advantage, Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, Steven J. Stack, telemedicine service

The U.S. Senate Chamber.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators are introducing a bill to expand telemedicine service through Medicare benefits.

Modern Healthcare reports that the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act (PDF), “would expand the use of remote patient-monitoring for some patients with chronic conditions, increase telemedicine services in community health centers and rural health clinics, and provide basic telemedicine benefits through Medicare Advantage.”

Backers also tout the measure as having the added benefit of helping providers meet the goals of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act and the Merit-based Incentive Payment System.

The CONNECT Act is supported by several industry groups, including America’s Health Insurance Plans, the American Heart Association and Kaiser Permanente.

“This bill would ensure that patients and their physicians are able to use new technologies that remove barriers to timely quality care. Importantly, the bill would maintain high standards whether a patient is seeing a physician in an office or via telemedicine,” said Dr. Steven J. Stack, president of the American Medical Association.

Medicare big data experiment depends on privacy pacts

February 2, 2016by Robert Whitcomb in Uncategorized tagged CHIP, Medicare Access

Modern Healthcare reports: “The Obama administration is working to balance patient privacy with the promise of tapping into market forces to boost its four-year-old initiative to allow outside organizations to mine federal claims data for healthcare-quality improvement and cost containment.”

Last week the CMS issued a proposed rule under the 2015 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act to let 13 current quality-improvement organizations and some newcomers sell their data-analytics products to businesses. This would include a mix of patient data from the private sector as well as from Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Only “authorized users”—healthcare providers, suppliers, employers, health insurers, medical societies, hospital associations, healthcare professional associations and state agencies — could buy these data analyses.

Better pay ahead seen for family physicians

May 18, 2015by Robert Whitcomb in Uncategorized tagged Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, Medicare Access, Patient-Centered Medical Home

Robert Wergin, M.D., president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, sees the light at the end of the tunnel regarding compensation of family physicians. Among his remarks to MedScape:

“With the passage of the Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, payment for services provided in an alternative payment model such as the patient-centered medical home will become more prominent. As that occurs, primary care physicians {such as family physicians} will see improved income because the services they provide are more appropriately valued under such a system.”