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November/December 2018
MeHI Helps Launch Aging and Innovation Hub 
 AGENCY: The Cambridge Innovation Center Global Longevity Collective
At an event on November 1, MeHI awarded the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) $100,000 in seed funding to launch AGENCY , a new coworking innovation hub focused on aging and longevity. AGENCY will form a crossroads where innovators from all sectors with an interest in aging and longevity will meet, host events, engage the healthcare community, turn their ideas into commercial successes, and grow their companies. “We are excited to partner with AGENCY to bring these parties together in person in a way that is designed to increase cross-functional collaboration and innovation to support all aspects of aging and caregiving” said Laurance Stuntz, director of MeHI. The launch of AGENCY in Kendall Square underscores Massachusetts’ continued growth as the global hub for aging and longevity innovation. 
Healthcare Payment Transparency Challenge
MeHI and the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) are teaming up to sponsor the inaugural “Massachusetts Healthcare Payment Transparency Challenge.”
 
Earlier this year, CHIA released to the public a dataset containing an unprecedented amount of data on the cost of medical procedures in the Commonwealth. Through the Challenge, CHIA and MeHI hope participants can identify innovative ways to use this data to provide healthcare cost transparency to educate consumers and inform Massachusetts policymakers. Entrants are encouraged to use this data to help people understand issues outlined in existing research on the subject of healthcare pricing and leverage other relevant datasets.      
 
The open call for submissions will close on Thursday, February 28, 2019.
Medicaid Updates
Earn Extra EHR Incentives
for Additional Eligible Professionals!

Do you employ Eligible Professionals (EP) who participated in the Medicaid program with a previous employer? You can attest and earn EHR incentives for them too!
Do you want to know if this applies to your EPs? There is no need to guess. Forward a list of EP names and NPIs to us and we will let you know who qualifies, including:

  • The EPs who previously attested with the Medicaid program
  • The last year these EPs received an incentive and
  • The remaining EHR incentives you can earn for these EPs

Call 855-627-7347 for additional information or send the list directly to massEHR@masstech.org.
Program Year 2018

As 2018 comes to a close, we encourage all Eligible Professionals (EP) to begin preparing for the 2018 attestation process. 


If you have any questions or need clarity regarding the attestation process, please don’t hesitate to contact a Technical Assistant or Analyst at 855-627-7347.
Clinical Quality Measure Reporting Requirements

To attest to Meaningful Use (MU), Eligible Professionals (EP) need to report six Clinical Quality Measures (CQM). While the MU reporting period for Program Year 2018 is 90 days, the CQM portion has either a 365-day or 90-day reporting period depending on whether the EP previously demonstrated MU:

  • EPs who attest to MU for the first time need to report a 90 day CQM period
  • EPs who previously demonstrated MU must report a 365 day CQM period

Massachusetts does not accept eCQM submissions. To participate in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program and receive an incentive, all EPs must manually report CQM data through the MU attestation process. 
Events
Process Improvement Workshop
Join us for a free, in-person Process Improvement Workshop to learn more about resolving patient engagement or health information exchange challenges, or improving Meaningful Use (MU) or other clinical care practices. This engaging hands-on workshop is intended for managers and staff at healthcare facilities.
 
MeHI will present practical models and ideas for effective team building, leadership development, coaching, building on strengths, understanding perspectives and personality traits, negotiating for win-win solutions, using metrics, facilitating process mapping, and other process improvement and change management topics. The content is people and process oriented and only touches lightly on technical aspects.
 
You will engage in discussions to share your own experiences, participate in hands-on exercises to select and address process challenges of the group’s interest, and take part in fun team-building activities to get to know the other participants. You will also join in an extended exercise to map out a process selected by the group, and learn how to facilitate process mapping and enable improvement discussions. 

It's not too late to join our December Sessions!

Friday, Dec 7 - 9:30am-3:00pm  
  • Part 1 - Strategies for Successful Change Management

Friday, Dec 14 - 9:30am-3:00pm
  • Part 2 - Process Improvement Methods and Strategies

Stay tuned to our newsletter and visit our website for more information about future Process Improvement Workshops.

Here’s what attendees are saying:

Anne Zettek-Sumner: “ Attend to develop or sharpen your process or quality improvement leadership skills, and to learn practical tips on how to build and manage successful teams. You can focus on your MU or HIE challenges, or bring other topics for exploration .”

Pamela Boutin: “ This is the finest program I ever attended. It pointed out multiple angles and points of view. It is very hands-on, social, and informative, and is actually fun. The presentation style is down to earth and understandable from many viewpoints. It will be easy to incorporate into every day and work life situations .”

Philip Joy: “ Excellent introduction to the basic principles of change management and team building. Rik Kerstens and his team provide an affable and engaging workshop with topics ranging from high-level business administration theory to personality traits and how to manage them. All within the context of a productive discussion around HIE and other topics we selected .”
Opportunities
Berkshire Health Technology Challenge
The Berkshire Health Technology Challenge ( BHTC) will award $25,000 of equity-free seed funding to a startup that presents the most scalable and investable business model based on health technology. The Challenge will be run by Lever , a startup incubator in North Adams, MA.
 
The funded startup will be incubated at Lever for four months at no cost. Lever will provide access to top leaders within the health and technology industries as mentors, one-on-one coaching, and intensive weekend workshops. Applications are open through January 2, 2019.
Mass HIway Updates
2019 Connection Requirement
For 2019, the  Mass HIway Regulations  (101 CMR 20.00) require all Acute Care Hospitals, all Community Health Centers, and Large and Medium Medical Ambulatory Practices to connect to the Mass HIway. These organizations must meet the requirements by January 1, 2019, and must attest that they met the requirements by July 1, 2019.

Large Community Health Centers and Large and Medium Medical Ambulatory Practices are entering the Year 2 connection requirement and must implement a Provider-to-Provider Communications use case. The following resources can help your organization implement a care coordination use case with a trading partner and be prepared to meet this requirement: