Governor Charlie Baker launched the Sandbox Program in April 2019 by announcing $500,000 in available funding as part of the Commonwealth’s efforts to boost the digital health ecosystem under the Massachusetts Digital Health Initiative. 

In December 2020, MeHI welcomed the Medical Device Plug-and-Play Interoperability & Cybersecurity Program (MD PnP) at Massachusetts General Hospital as the ninth member of our expanding Sandbox Network. The MD PnP Lab brings nearly two decades of experience helping support innovation, prototyping, piloting, certification, and security assurance for digital health technologies and products. 

This week, MeHI announced $105,500 in new Sandbox Program grants to help Lexington-based Keva Health, Cambridge’s Dynocardia, and Boston’s caresyntax access the cutting-edge tools and staff at three innovative Sandbox R&D centers located in Massachusetts. 

Companies interested in working with a Digital Health Sandbox should visit https://massdigitalhealth.org/sandbox for more information.

With assistance from the HIway Adoption and Utilization Services (HAUS) team, MVACO worked with Family Continuity to implement a new workflow to improve the information exchange process. In the new process, a staff member at Family Continuity sends the care plan to MVACO via Direct Messaging over the Mass HIway. The use of Direct Messaging has streamlined the process of exchanging care plans and allows for easier tracking as the staff only needs to monitor one communication method. 

Read the full story here.

As we wrapped up 2020, MeHI Director Laurance Stuntz sat down with 1upHealth CEO Ricky Sahu to discuss FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) APIs and membership in the Massachusetts Digital Health Sandbox Network. In June 2020, MeHI announced the addition of Boston-based 1upHealth as the newest addition to the Massachusetts Digital Health Sandbox Network as the Network’s first “Sandbox Tool”. 

The MassTech Collaborative, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition, invites you to join us for the inaugural event in our “Innovations in Caregiving” virtual series.

"COVID, Caregiver Intensity, and Mental Health: Moving from data to action to support unpaid caregivers" will focus on the impact of COVID on caregivers' mental health. The webinar will feature Chuck Czeisler, author on the CDC report "Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic"; Alexandra Drane, CEO of ARCHANGELS, whose caregiver intensity index was used to measure the impact of caregiving in the survey; plus Anna Gosline, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts; and a representative of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs who will discuss the implications of this data and the actions that they are taking to respond.

For more information on joining the Coalition please email info@macaregivercoalition.org.

We invite you to join us at our 2021 Learning Collaborative events. At these free events, we work together to develop informative guides, customizable templates, and other resources for healthcare providers. Attendees share their own experiences, hear other perspectives, and discuss best practices. The unique Learning Collaborative format allows attendees to contribute their insights and shape both the discussion and the deliverables we create.

For 2021, potential topics include:

Help us prioritize and plan by taking a quick survey here.

Stay tuned for more information, including registration links, in future newsletters and announcements, or visit our events calendar.

The Program Year 2020 (PY2020) deadline is February 2^nd, 2021. MAPIR is currently open and we encourage you to attest as soon as possible. Given the uncertainty about the course of the pandemic this winter, we want to ensure that all eligible providers have the opportunity to attest.

We encourage you to review the following resources as you complete your PY2020 application. If you have questions or concerns, please contact our Technical Assistance team at massehr@masstech.org or 1-855-MASS-EHR (1-855-627-7347).

The Program Year 2020 application deadline is February 2^nd, 2021. Please join us on January 26^th for our first MU Q&A Zoom session. Register to participate in an interactive forum that is designed to prepare you for a successful PY2020 attestation.

Get answers to all of your questions before the deadline, share best practices with other organizations, and hear tips for meeting Stage 3 MU objectives. We’ll also explain the accelerated program timelines and review supporting documentation requirements for some of the more challenging measures.

Tuesday, January 26^th

For immediate assistance, contact us at MassEHR@masstech.org or (855) 627-7347

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) issued an Administrative Bulletin, AB 20-83, effective November 1^st, 2020. AB 20-83 extends the date by which all Acute Care Hospitals are required to submit Admission, Discharge, and Transfer (ADT) data to a Certified Event Notification Service (ENS) Vendor and the date upon which penalties for non-compliance with this submission requirement commence.

The new date for required ADT submission is April 1^st, 2021, and the new date for Acute Care Hospitals becoming subject to penalties for ADT submission non-compliance is October 1^st, 2021.