Mass Digital Health Initiative
Highlights Success Stories
|
|
The Mass Digital Health Initiative is a public-private partnership aimed at promoting digital health innovation, enhancing economic impact, and improving healthcare costs and quality in the Commonwealth. As the lead state agency for the Initiative, MeHI meets with innovators in the digital health world, learning their stories to better understand how the digital health landscape is continually growing and changing. Below, meet two emerging Massachusetts digital health companies.
|
|
Virtudent
is changing the way consumers receive oral healthcare. In just a few short years, the Newton-based company has grown from an idea to a 17-person company. Co-founders Hitesh Tolani and John Voith aim to make dental care vastly more convenient by cutting out the hassle of actually going to the dentist. Via their state-of-the-art pop-up dental clinics, Virtudent provides on-site dental screenings and services to businesses and their employees.
Read the full story
here
.
|
|
Rendever
realizes that, in an era where some Americans are feeling hyper-connected, many are feeling more isolated than ever. Studies show that senior citizens face this problem more frequently than any group. While there is no simple solution, innovators like Rendever CEO Kyle Rand are developing new ways to help seniors stay connected. The Cambridge-based company’s goal is simple, yet critically important: to make seniors feel happier and less isolated.
Read the full story
here
.
|
|
Mass HIway 2.0 Migration Update
|
|
The Mass HIway Operations Team plans to migrate all HIway Participants from the legacy HIway to the new and improved HIway 2.0 environment over the next year. HIway 2.0 will align the Mass HIway with modern interoperability standards, simplify the connection process, and improve the user experience using the Orion Health Communicate solution.
The Mass HIway website has been updated to include important instructions to initiate the migration process, information about HIway 2.0 enhancements and features, and additional resources.
Click here
to review the Mass HIway 2.0 Migration Information website.
Join us for an Informational Webinar on HIway 2.0
When: Tuesday, July 31, 2018, 12-1 p.m.
This webinar will cover everything participants need to know about the mandatory migration to the new and improved Direct Messaging System, HIway 2.0, including:
- HIway 2.0 overview and benefits
- What Participants need to do and when
- The migration process approach
- The overall timeline and current status
The Mass HIway Operations team will also be available for Q&A.
For general questions about the Mass HIway migration process, please email the Mass HIway at
masshiway@state.ma.us
.
|
|
As described in Section 5.2 of the
Mass HIway Policies and Procedures
, all Acute Care Hospitals, Large Community Health Centers, and Large and Medium Medical Ambulatory Practices in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts were required to submit an Attestation Form
by July 1, 2018,
explaining how they had met the requirement to connect to the Mass HIway in accordance with 101 CMR 20.00, also known as the
Mass HIway Regulations
.
Important Information:
·
The July 1, 2018 deadline has passed
for
Acute Care Hospitals to attest to the Year 2 connection requirement, and for Large Community Health Centers and Large and Medium Medical Ambulatory Practices to attest to the Year 1 connection requirement. Even though the deadline has passed, the HIway urges all Provider Organizations with a connection requirement to make a submission. Online Attestation Forms, which include guidance for completion and submission, can be accessed
here
, in the section regarding “
Mass HIway Attestation Form
.”
·
The online Attestation Form must be completed in one session. Data cannot be entered and saved for completion at a later time.
If you are not ready to complete the full online Attestation Form at this time, we suggest that you use the PDF version of the Attestation Form to plan and prepare responses, then complete the online version when all of your responses are ready. PDF versions of the Attestation Forms are available by clicking the appropriate link:
Year 1 Attestation Form
,
Year 2 Attestation Form
.
·
If an organization has not fulfilled its HIway connection requirement and cannot complete the Attestation Form, an authorized representative of the organization must still submit information to the Mass HIway. See section 3.8 of the
Mass HIway Regulations FAQs
for detailed instructions.
Helpful Resources:
·
For additional information about the Mass HIway Regulations and the Attestation Forms, please review the Mass HIway Regulations FAQ document. The FAQ document is available in
PDF format
and also on the
Mass HIway website
. The FAQs were updated in April 2018 to include additional questions received since they were first published in February 2017. If you have additional questions, please email
MassHIwayAttestation@state.ma.us
.
Click
here
to review the Mass HIway on-demand "HIway Connection Requirement" webinars from May 22nd and June 26th.
|
|
Eligible Professionals Who Change Employers May Still Qualify for Incentives
|
|
Did you attest and receive the maximum EHR Incentive for all your EPs
?
Our analysis of participation in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program revealed that many Eligible Professionals (EPs) who successfully attested to AIU or MU in the past stopped participating after they changed employment.
Remember, EPs can receive a maximum of six EHR Incentive payments for a total of $63,750, regardless of their employer, location, or state. EPs can therefore continue their participation in the program to earn EHR Incentives even after they change employment, provided they received at least one incentive by the close of program year 2016.
We encourage you to verify whether you currently employ EPs who participated in the incentive program with a former employer. If you did not attest yet for these EPs, consider attesting for them in the future.
To assess if an EP qualifies for additional EHR Incentives, confirm whether the EP meets these three conditions:
·
Previously earned Medicaid EHR Incentives;
·
Received less than six incentive payments; and
·
Can demonstrate Meaningful Use (MU).
If all three conditions are met, the EP may qualify to continue participation.
If you’re unable to determine whether an EP previously attested with the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program,
please give us a call at 1-855-MASS-EHR (627-7347)
. Our Technical Assistant Reps and Analysts can verify this information for you.
|
|
Meaningful Use
Learning Collaborative
|
|
We are excited to announce a new educational opportunity for healthcare providers who aim to achieve Meaningful Use (MU):
The MU Learning Collaborative
.
The Learning Collaborative will provide a forum for participants to discuss their MU successes and challenges. By sharing your experiences, you can assist MeHI in designing new workshops and resources to support other Meaningful Users.
Over the course of two sessions, we will present people-oriented change management and process improvement strategies, and discuss how to apply those strategies to better integrate technology and improve workflows. Together with participants, we will identify best practices and develop tools to implement Health Information Exchange (HIE), patient engagement strategies, and other MU objectives that providers find most challenging.
- WHEN: Wednesday, August 22 and Wednesday, September 12 from 9:30am–3:00pm (both dates include a networking lunch from Noon–1:00pm)
Onsite participation at both sessions is required and space is limited. If you are interested in participating, please email Lis Renczkowski at
renczkowski@masstech.org
by
Wednesday, August 8
.
|
|
Interested but unable to attend? We will be hosting two-day MU workshops in October and December that will incorporate the materials developed by the August/September MU Learning Collaborative. More information about these workshops will be available soon.
|
|
The MU Boot Camp serves
as an introduction to the
Medicaid EHR Incentive Program
.
The webinar provides an orientation for new Designees to learn about the critical tasks of navigating the program and the application process.
This soup-to-nuts webinar is an
accelerated training course designed to educate new designees on everything
Meaningful Use
,
so that they can successfully attest on behalf of providers and earn the maximum remaining incentive money for the organization.
Boot Camp attendees get a step-by-step overview of the entire attestation process, including:
- Program basics and provider registration systems;
- Designee authorization and MAPIR access;
- Eligibility criteria, Patient Volume Threshold (PVT), Hospital-Based Letter;
- MU objectives and measures, MU dashboard, reporting periods;
- Supporting documentation requirements: examples, obstacles, MeHI resources; and
- Attestation prep and future attestations.
Complete MeHI’s Designee Boot Camp and become the Meaningful Use champion for your organization! Attendees can expect to take away a comprehensive understanding of the attestation process and how to avoid common pitfalls, as well as more confidence in securing incentive payments.
The Designee Boot Camp webinar will be offered on
Tuesday, September 18,
from
Noon-1:00 p.m.
, and on
Wednesday, September 19,
from
Noon-1:00 p.m.
The same information will be presented at both sessions.
|
|
Healthy Aging Innovation Challenge Alert:
Accepting Submissions!
|
|
Earlier this month, a group of industry, academic, and government partners
announced
In Good Company: The Optimal Aging Challenge
,
a $20,000 competition to improve healthy aging in Massachusetts by leveraging the development of breakthrough technologies, community resources, and other solutions to reduce social isolation and loneliness and increase engagement among older populations.
Organized in collaboration with GE Healthcare, MIT’s Age Lab, Benchmark Senior Living, and Governor Charlie Baker’s
Council to Address Aging in Massachusetts
, t
he challenge seeks ideas or technologies that fall within at least one of four pillars: caregiving, transportation, housing, and employment.
The deadline to submit an entry is September 28. For more information, click
here
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
