The Washington Debrief provides CHIME members weekly news and information related to important healthcare IT legislative, regulatory and political developments in Washington, D.C.
Key Takeaway: CHIME and AEHIS have formed a new work group to tackle securing legacy devices over their lifetime. First call is 10 a.m. ET April 6.
Why It Matters:Please join many of your peers who have already expressed an interest in offering ways to secure legacy devices over their lifetime. The feedback we receive will ultimately be used to shape a response to the House Oversight Committee, which is expected to release a request for information shortly. Email us if you want to participate.
Public Policy Call
Key Takeaway:Monthly policy webinar - join us the third Wednesday of every month.
Why It Matters:Need your policy fix? Our next public policy call will be 2-2:30 p.m. (EST) on April 18. Members and Foundation firms can email us to be added to the distribution list.
Why It Matters: Although there are questions about whether Blue Button 2.0 Application Programming Interface (API) will be able to live up to expectations, this move is intended to bring patients closer to their data. If you would like to learn more, check out their
website.
FDA Authorizes Interoperable Glucose Monitoring System
Key Takeaway:The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently permitted the marketing of the integrated continuous glucose monitoring (iCGM) system.
Why It Matters:This system will track blood glucose levels in people from the age of 2 to adults with diabetes and this is the first of its kind to be approved by the FDA. The system will send data from the device to a user's cellular device every five minutes and even send an alarm if blood sugar reaches a dangerous level. It is intended to be fully interoperable and will help continue to put patients at the center of their care. The press release is here.
Key Takeaway:The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking feedback from providers around quality data submission. Please take their 10-minute survey.
Why It Matters: CMS' contractor, HQR, is seeking your input to better understand how software developers and health IT professionals could quickly and easily integrate with potential EHR data submission APIs. This is aimed at EHR Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) submissions and the tools needed to facilitate easier data reporting between a provider's EHR and CMS. Armed with this feedback, they will make recommendations around process improvement.This survey is completely anonymous. There is an optional addition of your name and email if you'd like to speak in further detail.The survey can be found here.
IRF & LTCH CMS Reports
Key Takeaway: Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) and Long-term Care Hospital (LTCH) provider reports from Q3 of 2016 to Q2 of 2017 can be accessed.
Why It Matters:Providers will be able to review their performance data until this Thursday, April 5, 2018.
Key Takeaway:Jessie's Law was included part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 signed into law last week.
Why It Matters:The new law contains instructions by way of a committee report to implement Jessie's Law. The law calls for best practices for hospitals and physicians for sharing information about a patient's past opioid addiction when that information is shared by the patient with the healthcare provider. These provisions were championed by lawmakers in both the House and Senate. A summary of the provisions and background can be found here.
New CDC Report
Key Takeaway: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put out a new report on Thursday that seems to paint the picture that the opioid crisis is only getting worse.
Why It Matters: The
report found that opioid-related overdoses rose by nearly 28 percent between 2015 and 2016. In 2016, 63,632 Americans died from drug overdoses, with about two-thirds as the result of opioids. The report also goes on to explain that powerful, synthetic opioids are driving the increase in deaths.
Key Takeaway:President Trump recently, in partnership with the Department of the Interior and the National Parks Service, sanctioned a temporary memorial of opioid victims in President's Park during the month of April. It will be titled "Prescribed to Death".
Why It Matters: The memorial will be open for roughly a week and will feature 22,000 pills with the face of a prescription drug overdose victim carved into it. This is yet another move to make the American people more aware of the "crisis next door."
New VA Secretary
Key Takeaway: After months of rumors about the status of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin, Trump has finally replaced him.
Why It Matters: The president has moved quickly in naming his replacement: Admiral Ronny L. Jackson, M.D. Jackson is a career Navy physician who was most recently the White House physician who gave the president his physical examination.
Key Takeaway: CMS Extends the
Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) 2017 Data Submission Deadline from March 31 to 8 p.m. EDT April 3
Why It Matters:If you're an eligible clinician participating in the Quality Payment Program, you now have until 8 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 3, 2018, to submit your 2017 MIPS performance data. You can submit your 2017 performance data using the new feature on the Quality Payment Program website. Also, as you as you enter data into the feature, you'll see real-time scoring projections for each of the MIPS performance categories. This scoring may change if new data is reported or quality measures that have not yet been benchmarked are used.
Key Takeaway:The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) recently released a cyberattack contingency plan as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Why It Matters: These plans must be in place in case of a massive cyberattack where patients' data is in jeopardy. The HIPAA Contingency Plan will include a Disaster Recovery Plan, Emergency Mode Operation Plan and a Data Backup Plan. This plan will really help ease worries about how to handle a massive cybersecurity attack on our healthcare system.
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College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME)
