News & Updates
June 24, 2021
Fixing the Health Care Knowledge Supply Chain

This year, each day of the Summer Forum will focus on a particular, unique element that is transforming the industry:
  • Automation in Healthcare; Improving the Patient Experience
  • Patient Experience and Stakeholder Feedback on the CMS Interoperability Rules
  • Surveying the Regulatory Landscape
In the RFI the Committee asks four questions related to how data sharing can be improved, recommendations for new standards, opportunities to learn from other industries, and identification of NCVHS priorities. NCVHS will hold a listening session Aug. 25. WEDI will be developing a response to the RFI. Comments due July 30, 2021.
Accessing Social Determinants of Health Data through Local Data Intermediaries Initiative
The Office of Minority Health (OMH) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services administers grant programs to support projects that implement innovative models to improve minority health and reduce health disparities.
Award Amount: up to $250,000
Application Due Date: July 28, 2021, 6:00 PM ET
Health Affairs Article Points to HIO Readiness & Engagement in TEFCA
At the time the survey was fielded—May, 2019 to February, 2020—a majority (56 percent) of HIOs said they plan to participate in TEFCA while 41 percent didn’t know if they would participate yet. Only 3 percent reported that they were not planning to participate in TEFCA.
HHS Issues Revised Notice of Reporting Requirements and Reporting Timeline for Recipients of Provider Relief Fund Payments
This announcement includes expanding the amount of time providers will have to report information, aims to reduce burdens on smaller providers, and extends key deadlines for expending PRF payments for recipients who received payments after June 30, 2020. The revised reporting requirements will be applicable to providers who received one or more payments exceeding, in the aggregate, $10,000 during a single Payment Received Period from the PRF General Distributions, Targeted Distributions, and/or Skilled Nursing Facility and Nursing Home Infection Control Distributions.
X12 is preparing recommendations related to the HIPAA mandates. As part of that process, they want to gather feedback from implementers and other materially impacted stakeholders.
HHS Releases Project US@ Draft Technical Specification Version 1.0 for Comment
Project US@ was created to develop a unified, cross-standards, healthcare industry-wide specification for representing patient addresses to improve patient matching.The comment period for the draft specification will be open from July 1 through July 31, 2021, and will be released by NCPDP, X12, and HL7. The final version 1.0 of the Project US@ Technical Specification is expected to be released later in 2021.
Join the Next Meeting of the COVID-19
Health Equity Task Force
June 25, 2:00 pm ET.
The OMH COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force will meet to consider interim recommendations addressing the inequities and the impact of long-COVID or Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The Task Force will also discuss access to personal protection equipment, testing, and therapeutics that are related to this pandemic. This meeting is open to the public. No registration is needed.
Mayo Clinic joins Apple Health Records initiative:
4 things to know
  1. Mayo Clinic patients who have an online patient portal account can now use Apple's Health Records app, which lets users view their health data from multiple providers on a single platform. 
  2. Use of the Health Records feature in iPhone's Health app is optional and will not affect the user's patient portal account. 
  3. Mayo Clinic patients with Android devices can use a similar health records app called CommonHealth. 
  4. Apple is set to roll out new health features for the Health Records app this fall, including giving users the option to share certain types of health data such as heart rate and detected falls with their physicians.
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Payment Models Workgroup
The next Payment Models Workgroup meeting will be June 29th from 3-4ET. During this meeting, we will be finalizing the survey for payment models environment assessment.  

WEDI workgroups provide thoughtful leadership and common-sense approaches that enhance the exchange of clinical and administrative healthcare information. They collect input, exchange ideas, and make recommendations that inspire impactful and far-reaching change in our industry.
WEDI | www.wedi.org