News Updates: May 2018
Online Mass HIway Attestation Forms Available
The Mass HIway has released online versions of the Year 1 and Year 2 Attestation Forms. The Year 1 and Year 2 Attestation Forms are used by Provider Organizations to attest to how they have met the requirement to connect to the Mass HIway in accordance with the Mass HIway Regulations .
 
The online Attestation Forms and information can be accessed here , in the section regarding “Mass HIway Attestation Form."

Important information:

  • By July 1, 2018, Acute Care Hospitals must attest to the Year 2 connection requirement, and Large and Medium Medical Ambulatory Practices, and Large Community Health Centers must attest to the Year 1 connection requirement.

  • 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 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.

  • PDF versions of the Attestation Forms will no longer be accepted. Any Provider Organization attesting after May 21, 2018, must submit using the online Attestation Form.

  • 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 can also be found on the Mass HIway website. The FAQs were updated in April 2018 to include additional questions received since the FAQs were first published in February 2017. If you have additional questions, please email the Mass HIway Attestation team at MassHIwayAttestation@state.ma.us
Mass Coalition for Serious Illness Care
Hosts 3 rd Annual Summit
On May 15th, the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care held its third annual summit at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. The summit featured a conversation with Jonathan Bush about his personal experiences with serious illness and end-of-life care. The event also highlighted the results of the Coalition’s 2018 consumer research, as well as a discussion around lessons learned from major public health and social change initiatives.

MeHI Director Laurance Stuntz presented on MeHI’s partnership with the Coalition to facilitate the electronic sharing of advance care planning documents. The ultimate goal of the partnership is to ensure that all patients’ wishes, preferences, and goals of care are documented and made accessible regardless of place of care.

See the program page to learn more.
Medicaid Program Updates
CMS Announces Program Name Change
To better reflect its focus on improving interoperability and patients’ access to health information, CMS is renaming the collection of federal EHR Incentive Programs to the Promoting Interoperability (PI) Programs. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts will continue to operate the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, which is now a part of the PI Program.

Through this change, CMS is also streamlining its programs to reduce the time and cost required to participate. Visit the CMS Promoting Interoperability page to learn more.
Final Program Year 2017 Extension
June 21, 2018
CMS has extended the PY2017 deadline to June 21, 2018, for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. All Eligible Professionals and Hospitals have a few extra weeks to review the supporting documentation guidelines and complete the attestation process. Visit the MeHI website to view information and tools created to assist in Meaningful Use. Please note that this is the final extension .  
Opportunities
Join Our Team
We are pleased to announce that we are hiring for two exciting new positions on our Mass HIway team: Account Manager and Outreach & Education Specialist. MassTech offers a fast-paced, challenging environment that encourages growth, fosters teamwork, and rewards results. Visit the MassTech employment page to learn more.
Mass Digital Health Marketplace is Live
The Mass Digital Health Marketplace makes it simple for customers to reverse pitch to digital health companies at scale, while also making it easy for Massachusetts digital health companies to find potential customers for their products and services. Whether your organization needs new software for managing your practice, a new device to improve your operations, or an app to better monitor patients, the Marketplace can help you find a solution here in Massachusetts.
Easy EHR Issue Reporting Challenge
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has launched the Easy EHR Issue Reporting Challenge. Electronic Health Record (EHR) usability issues can adversely affect healthcare quality and patient safety. Clinicians, hospitals, and health IT developers need better tools to capture, analyze, and understand how and why errors occur. This challenge is a multidisciplinary call to software developers, clinicians, and innovators to create a tool that will make it easier for doctors, nurses, and other care team members to efficiently and effectively report concerns about the usability or safety of EHRs to appropriate parties. Winning applications must:
 
  • Integrate with an EHR’s workflow;
  • Minimize the time and effort needed to create a report;
  • Allow the clinician practice, hospital, or end user to choose the parties to whom it reports; and
  • Be EHR platform-agnostic.
 
The deadline for submissions is October 15, 2018. To learn more, read the blog post by ONC’s Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Andy Gettinger.
Events
Internet of Health Event
The Internet of Health will return to Boston to showcase even more provider-led case studies on how digital health is advancing personalized care while bringing down treatment costs and readmission rates.

As chair of the event, MeHI Director Laurance Stuntz will open and close both days of the conference, and will also moderate panels on the future of healthcare innovation and reducing chronic disease costs.

When: June 26 and 27, 2018
Where: Hilton Back Bay
40 Dalton St
Boston, MA 02115
PULSE Finale 2018
Sponsored in part by MeHI, PULSE@MassChallenge is the Commonwealth’s digital health innovation lab dedicated to bringing digital health innovators and the clinical community together to drive better and faster innovation. Since January, the current cohort of PULSE@MassChallenge startups  have engaged in over 100 partnerships and demonstration projects with over thirty Champions, including Vertex, AARP, Shire, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the City of Boston.

PULSE@MassChallenge is teaming up with BIO, the largest biotechnology conference in the world to bring you this year's most inspiring night celebrating digital health innovation. At the PULSE@MassChallenge Finale, you'll find:

  • The best digital health startups (the top 6% worldwide);
  • Amazing keynotes;
  • An audience of 1,000 of the industry's most impressive leaders;
  • Over $200K in no-strings-attached prizes awarded to the top PULSE startups;
  • And more!

When:  June 5, 2018 at 5:30pm
Where: Boston Convention Center Grand Ballroom
415 Summer Street
Boston, MA 02210
d.health Summit
The University of Rochester, in collaboration with West Health, is hosting the fourth annual d.health Summit , a national forum for health and technology leaders, entrepreneurs, financiers, senior care advocates and policymakers in Boston for the first time this year. Attendees will exchange ideas, forge new relationships, and foster disruptive technological and process innovations to improve the lives of the nation’s aging population.

Register here with promo code MEHI25 to receive 25% off admission.
 
When:  June 6, 2018 from 8:00am to 6:00pm
Where: State Room
60 State Street, 33rd Floor
Boston, MA 02109