ONC Appoints Muntz and Murphy in Reorg

January 16th, 2012

Experienced Health IT Execs Appointed to Lead in 2012
National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostishari, MD, ScM,  appointed David Muntz, MBA, to the new position of Principal Deputy National Coordinator in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT in January 2012, while Judy Murphy, RN, FACMI, FHIMSS, FAAN, was appointed Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy in late 2011. Both the positions and appointees have been posted recently on the ONC’s Web site.

David Muntz, MBA, FCHIME, CHCIO
Principal Deputy National Coordinator

David Muntz, FCHIME, CHCIO

David Muntz, FCHIME, CHCIO

Muntz was  Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Baylor Health Care System in Dallas and a 38-year veteran of medical information systems. According to the ONC Description of Organizational Structure and Offices, the “Principal Deputy National Coordinator works with and reports directly to the National Coordinator and is responsible for day-to-day operations, decision making, and staff management of ONC. The Principal Deputy will oversee the activities of four offices within ONC: Office of the Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy; Office of the Deputy National Coordinator for Operations; Office of Economic Analysis, Evaluation and Modeling; and, Office of the Chief Scientist. One of the current ONC offices, the Office of the Chief Privacy Officer, is a position mandated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and will continue to report to the National Coordinator.”

According to a press release issued in conjunction with 2010 National Health IT Week,  “David Muntz, a 37-year veteran of Medical Information Systems, is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Baylor Health Care System in Dallas. As CIO, Mr. Muntz is responsible for more than 650 employees who care for a delivery system with more than 140 points of entry. Mr. Muntz works closely with hospitals, leadership, boards, physicians, nurses and clinicians system-wide toward improving information technology at Baylor. Since he joined Baylor in 2006, the hospital has received notoriety in healthcare IT, most notably as the #1 innovator in the healthcare sector on the 2007 Information Week 500 list.

“Mr. Muntz is a Fellow of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and currently serves on the CHIME Board of Trustees, Advocacy Leadership Team, and Policy Steering Committee. Also an active member of the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), he has been a speaker for  numerous local, state, and national organizations. He was recognized as CIO Innovator of the Year by CHIME in 2005 and was listed as one of the “Top 5 CIOs” in the June 1999 issue of Health Management.

“Prior to Baylor, Mr. Muntz most recently served as the Senior Vice President and CIO at Texas HealthResources, where he was responsible for all information system functions including Medical Records. While working for Texas Health Resources, Muntz’s information services organization received national recognition nine years in a row. Mr. Muntz also had a distinguished career with the Wadley Research Institute and Blood Bank, starting as a biostatistician and eventually becoming CEO of the Institute. During his tenure with Wadley, Mr. Muntz led the team that created a complete online record for the community’s blood bank. In addition, Wadley’s other divisions, the hospital, clinic,
and physician practices, shared a computer based patient record created by Mr. Muntz and his staff.

“Mr. Muntz holds an MBA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and an AB degree in Premedicine and English from Columbia College in New York City.”

Judy Murphy, RN, FACMI, FHIMSS, FAAN
Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy

Judy Murphy, RN, FACMI, FHIMSS, FAAN

Judy Murphy, RN, FACMI, FHIMSS, FAAN

According to the ONC Web site, “Judy Murphy is Deputy National Coordinator for Programs & Policy at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C.  She is a nurse, who came to the ONC in December of 2011 with more than 25 years of health informatics experience at Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, an integrated delivery network with 15 hospitals, 120 ambulatory centers, home health agencies and over 30,000 employees.  She led the EHR program since 1995, when Aurora was one of the early adopters of health IT.  Most recently she was Vice President-EHR Applications, and managed the organization’s successful achievement of Stage 1 EHR Meaningful, with incentive payments beginning in September 2011.

“Her informatics interests lie in system implementation methodologies, health IT project management, automated clinical documentation, and the use of technology to support evidence-based practice; she has published and lectured nationally and internationally on these topics.  She has a long-standing reputation of patient advocacy and maintaining a “patient-centric” point of view, and approaches her work with unyielding energy as well as dedication, passion, and commitment to the healthcare transformation enabled by technology.

“Judy has been on the Health IT Standards Committee since its inception in May 2009.  On that committee, she co-chaired the Implementation Workgroup, and was a member of the Meaningful Use Workgroup.  She has also served on the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Board of Directors and the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Board of Directors.  She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the American College of Medical Informatics and HIMSS.  She received the 2006 HIMSS Nursing Informatics Leadership Award, was named one of the “20 People Who Make Healthcare Better” in 2007 by HealthLeaders magazine, and was selected as one of 33 Nursing Informatics’ Pioneers to participate in the Nursing Informatics History Project sponsored by AMIA, NLM, AAN, and RWJF.”

ONC Organization Chart
ONC Posts New Organizational Chart Dated Nov 16, 2011.

Description of Organizational Structure and Offices

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is directed by the National Coordinator and is assisted by the Chief Privacy Officer, Health Care Reform Coordinator, and Principal Deputy National Coordinator as well as the Deputy National Coordinator for Operations, Deputy National Coordinator for Programs & Policy, Chief Scientist, and the Office of Economic Analysis, Evaluation and Modeling.

The Office of the Chief Privacy Officer, a position mandated by the Recovery Act, advises on privacy, security, and data stewardship of electronic health information and coordinate ONC’s privacy and related efforts with similar privacy officers in other Federal agencies, State and regional agencies, and foreign countries.

Health Care Reform Coordinator is the principal advisor to the National Coordinator for all Health Reform issues. The coordinator ensures the programs to accelerate adoption of interoperable health IT lay the necessary foundation for health care reform including new payment policy that achieves better care, better health, and lower costs.

Principal Deputy National Coordinator works with and reports directly to the National Coordinator and is responsible for day-to-day operations, decision making, and staff management of ONC. The Principal Deputy will oversee the activities of four offices within ONC: Office of the Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy; Office of the Deputy National Coordinator for Operations; Office of Economic Analysis, Evaluation and Modeling; and, Office of the Chief Scientist. One of the current ONC offices, the Office of the Chief Privacy Officer, is a position mandated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and will continue to report to the National Coordinator.

The Office of Economic Analysis and Modeling provides analyses to the National Coordinator, including advanced modeling of the U.S. health care system for simulating the micro- and macroeconomic effects of investing in health IT.

The Office of the Chief Scientist is responsible for research and for identifying innovations in information technology that can be applied in health care settings, and which will be the ONC interface for international activities.

The Office of the Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy assumes functions previously performed by the Office of Health Information Technology Adoption, the Office of Interoperability and Standards, the Office of Adoption Provider Support, the Office of State and Community Programs, and the Office of Policy and Planning. The new office will lead ONC programs related to health information exchange, regional extension centers, training of the health IT workforce, and the development of technical standards for interoperability, security, and certification of health IT systems. The new office comprises:

  • The Office of Standards and Interoperability, with responsibility for standards, security, certification, the Nationwide Health Information Network, Federal Health Architecture and the CONNECT program;
  • The Office of Provider Adoption Support, which administers the Regional Extension Centers program and health IT workforce development;
  • The Office of State and Community Programs, which administers the state-level health information exchange program and the Beacon Communities Program; and
  • The Office of Policy and Planning, which is realigned to include all policy development, including privacy and security policy, and is liaison with legal affairs and legislative affairs, regulations development and externally focused strategic planning.

Deputy National Coordinator for Operations is responsible for activities that are vital to supporting ONC’s numerous programs and enhancing ONC’s ability to communication about health IT. This office comprises:

  • The Office of Communications, which is responsible for stakeholder communications and constituency relations; and
  • The Office of Mission Support, which supports day-to-day operations, including new grants processing, contracts management, budget execution and reporting, human resources, as well as internal strategic planning, special projects, and budget formulation; and
  • The Office of Oversight, which assures oversight of grants, internal and external performance reporting, and auditing; and
  • The Office of Grants Management, which is responsible for carrying out full lifecycle grants management functions and providing procedural and technical business support to ONC grant award recipients and program managers. The office is charged with awarding and managing ONC’s portfolio of grant programs. Through the execution of the grants lifecycle, the office ensures that federal grant funds are properly awarded and are managed effectively to ensure good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

DIRECTORY as of 1/9/2012
Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

Office of the Chief Privacy Officer
Joy Pritts, JD
Principal Deputy National Coordinator
David Muntz, MBA
Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy
Judy Murphy, RN, FACMI, FHIMSS, FAAN

Deputy National Coordinator for Operations
Elisabeth A. Handley, MPA
  • Office of Oversight: Maruta Budetti
  • Office of Communications: Peter Garrett
  • Office of Grants Management: Lisa Lewis
  • Office of Mission Support: Sam Shellenberger
Office of the Chief Scientist
Doug Fridsma, M.D., Ph.D. (Acting)
Office of Economic Analysis and Modeling
Mike Furukawa, Ph.D. (Acting)
Health Care Reform Coordinator
Kelly Cronin

Posted in Government, Hospitals, ONC | No Comments »

ONC’s Wil Yu: ‘Proof of Concept Testing through Innovation Exchanges for Health IT’

September 5th, 2011
Published Initially on ONC Heatlh IT Buzz Blog: 'Proof of Concept Testing through Innovation Exchanges for Health IT'
September 2, 2011
Written by Wil Yu, Special Assistant Innovations ONC Office of the Chief Scientist, and republished by e-Healthcare Marketing.

Quick Note: This is one of many blog posts that I will be writing in September that highlights how innovation leadership within the health IT and health care communities is changing the health IT landscape. I’ll cover efforts being championed within the White House, ONC/HHS, and the broader environment, that are helping to usher in a wave of new technologies and services that will lead to better health care, health, and cost savings through continuous quality improvement.

Proof of Concept Testing – Connecting Early Stage Innovators to Stakeholders

One of the more exciting initiatives taking place is a unique effort to unite early stage innovators with the broader ecosystem to shepherd and nurture new technological development.

One of the greatest challenges facing any health care innovator is to develop ideas with the broader environment – working with a myriad of stakeholders in an appropriate manner to obtain the crucial data needed to validate the effectiveness, value, and strategy tied to the innovation. I’m referring to getting to the critical stage known as the proof-of-concept.

New White House Startup America Initiative

Realizing that getting to this stage requires substantial time and resources, I’m pleased to report that the White House Startup America Initiative, in partnership with HHS, is promoting an effort called Innovation Exchanges for Health IT – a model that promotes facilitated forums that assemble a collection of early stage, near-proof-of-concept innovators with forward looking health care organizations.  The explicit goal of this program is to identify opportunities for testbeds to support innovative development.  This is a first-of-a-kind initiative that helps to cross stakeholder lines in the interest of innovation.

The benefits of these proof-of-concept exchanges are apparent:

  • Health care organizations that participate can identify potential future developers that they wish to collaborate with from a host of candidates in a single day, substantially lowering their search costs.
  • Innovators can find potential partners by presenting to a dozen organizations at once – saving precious time and accelerating their development timelines.

While not meant to be a commercial opportunity, participants are free to identify scope and duration of their collaborations.

More Innovation Events Scheduled

The first Innovation Exchange for Health IT took place in Philadelphia earlier this year, under the leadership of BluePrint Health IT.   We’ll see at least three more events taking place in Indianapolis (October), San Francisco (September), and in the New England area (October) sponsored by a variety of organizations.

As I’ve noted before, community building is an essential step in the innovation process.  These exchanges are an attempt to provide the opportunity to forge the relationships needed to sustain those communities.

Feel free to contact me if you would like to participate in a future exchange.

Wil Yu, Special Assistant, Innovations (wil.yu@hhs.gov)

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To comment directly on the ONC Health IT Buzz Blog, click here.

Note: The first Innovation Exchange for Health IT took place on May 26, 2011 in Philadelphia as the BluePrint Health IT Innovation Summit.

Prior to the Summit, the format was described by John Halamka as 'e-Harmony for IT' in his blog post on Speed Dating for IT.
Following the Summit, John Moore of Chilmark Research, provided a summary of the successful matching in hospitals and health IT innovators.
Both Halamka and Moore serve as members of the BluePrint Health IT Innovation Exchange Summit series Advisory Board.
This blog is produced by Mike Squires, Executive Director, BluePrint Health IT Innovation Exchange Summit, and Vice President, Strategic Development and Public Policy for BluePrint Healthcare IT.

You can learn more about participating in the Mid-West Summit in Indianapolis on October 12 or the West Coast Summit on December 8, 2011, where 10 hospitals and 10 health IT Innovators will be matched, by visiting www.blueprinthit.com/summit or contacting me directly at mike.squires@blueprinthit.com 

 

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www.healthit.gov: Sneak Preview of ONC site for non-geeks

July 12th, 2011

Providers & Professionals, Patient & Families
to Become Focus of New ONC Site
Sneak Preview Shows New Pages of New site
in soft launch mode July 12, 2011,
More to Come

healthit.gov

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eHI: 2011 National Forum on Health Information Exchange: July 14

June 18th, 2011

A Special Meeting for Health Information Exchange Initiatives

Accessed on June 16, 2011 and excerpted from eHealth Initiative.
The 2011 National Forum on Health Information Exchange will take place Thursday, July 14, 2011 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC. The HIE Forum will convene healthcare leaders from across the 50 states to discuss the challenges and best practices needed to achieve sustainable national health information exchange. It will also coincide with the release of the 2011 eHI HIE Survey. Interactive panels comprised of health information exchange experts who are in the field will be the primary focus of the event. The majority of the event will include question and answer sessions for audience members.

Transforming Healthcare Through Analytics

Analytics is one of the most exciting and promising areas for HIE innovation. HIEs can provide in-depth analytics to help providers manage patients, control costs and improve quality. Analytics can be used for predictive modeling, real-time point of care decision support, managing population health, quality reporting and comparative effectiveness research. This panel will include payers and HIEs that have experience working in this area.

How HIEs can Work with the Direct Project

This panel will explore the implementation challenges associated with the Direct Project, as well as the potential benefits that can be derived from it. The group will discuss how the Direct Project will help providers and hospitals qualify for meaningful us and encourage health information exchange. Additionally, Providers, patients, and other stakeholders in the delivery of healthcare across the country can be connected through the infrastructure of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN). While NwHIN is not a physical network, HIEs are moving towards using the standards, SSA disability determination, justifications, and other protocols set by NwHIN.

Insurance Exchanges and HIE: Coordinating Efforts for Success

Following the passage of health reform, states are now in the process of creating health insurance exchanges. Both HIE and Insurance Exchanges require significant effort, resources and focus. Coordination and competing for resources is a challenge. This panel will examine the efforts underway in several states.

Getting to Meaningful Use Through HIE

In preparation for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use, providers and hospitals must begin to prepare for increasing HIE requirements. HIEs will need to determine how they can support hospitals and providers in meeting the new requirements. Included in this topic will be immunization registries, and the stage 2 MU requirements.

Staying Alive in 2011: Different Revenue Models for Sustainability

Creating a sustainable business model remains the greatest challenge facing organizations. New models of sustainability have been suggested in the last couple of years, including utility models. Attaining sustainability is still an enormous hurdle. This panel will include speakers who use different revenue models. They will address best practices for HIE sustainability.

IT Infrastructure Required to Support ACO

With the advent of Accountable Care Organizations, health information exchange is even more critical. ACOs will need to coordinate care, manage patient health, and track administrative data. Panelists will discuss established HIEs can position themselves to support ACOs.

AGENDA for National Forum on HIE: July 14, 2011
Excerpts. For complete agenda, click here.
To register, click here.

7:00 AM
Registration
Exhibit Hall Open – Breakfast and Networking
8:30 – 9:00 AM
Welcome, Overview and 2011 HIE Survey Key Findings 

Jennifer Covich Jennifer Covich Bordenick, Chief Executive Officer, eHealth Initiative
9:00 – 9:30 AM
Keynote 

Todd Park Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer, Department of Health and Human Services
Mr. Todd Park will present the keynote address at the 2011 National Forum on Health Information Exchange. In his role as CTO, he is responsible for helping HHS leadership harness the power of data, technology, and innovation to improve the health and welfare of the nation. He will discuss CMS data and how HIEs can use that data.
9:30 – 10:30 AM
Transforming Healthcare Through Analytics 

Sam Ho, EVP and CMO, United Healthcare (Invited)
Dick Thompson Dick Thompson, Executive Director of the Quality Health Network
Carladenise Edwards Carladenise Edwards, President and CEO, Cal eConnect
Ahmed Ghouri, Chief Medical Officer, Anvita Health
10:30 – 11:00 AM
Break
11:00 – 12:00 PM
How HIEs can Work with the Direct Project 

Arien Malec, Coordinator, Direct Project, ONC (Invited)
Jeff Blair, Director of Health Informatics, New Mexico Health Information Collaborative
John Blair, III, MD, President and CEO, Taconic IPA
12:00 – 1:00 PM
Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Insurance Exchanges and HIE: Coordinating Efforts for Success 

Glen Shor, Massachusetts Insurance Exchange (Invited)
Kim Davis – Allen, Alabama HIT Coordinator
Edward Dolly, CISSP, Deputy Commissioner, State Health Information Technology Coordinator, West Virginia Bureau for Medical Services
Steve Larsen, Director, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, CMS (Invited)
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Getting to Meaningful Use Through HIE 

Zachery Jiwa, Louisiana HIT Coordinator
Micky Tripathi, PhD, President and CEO, Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative
Scott Afzal, HIE Program Director, CRISP
Stephen Palmer, Director, Office of e-Health Coordination, Texas Health and Human Services Commission
3:00 – 3:30 PM
Break
3:30 – 4:30 PM
Staying Alive in 2011: Different Revenue Models for Sustainability 

Paul Forlenza, Vice President of Policy, VITL
Christopher M. Henkenius, Program Director, NeHII, Inc.
Abigail Sears, CEO, OCHIN
Doug Dietzman, Executive Director, Michigan Health Connect
4:30 – 5:30 PM
IT Infrastructure Required to Support ACO 

Moderator: Nam Vo, Senior Director of Healthcare Strategy, Oracle
Phyllis Albritton, Executive Director, CORHIO
5:30 – 7:30 PM
Reception

For latest and complete information on eHI National Forum, click here.

Posted in Government, HIE, ONC, States | No Comments »

HHS and ONC: Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative

June 12th, 2011

Investing in Innovations
Accessed from ONC on June 12, 2011
In September 2009, President Obama released his Strategy for American Innovation, calling for agencies to increase their ability to promote and harness innovation by using policy tools such as awards and competitions. The America Competes Act, passed in December 2010, permits any agency head to “carry out a program to award prizes competitively to stimulate innovation.” With this authority, ONC has created the Investing in Innovations (“i2″) program.

Investing in Innovations is a two-year contract with Capital Consulting Corporation and Health 2.0 that will disburse more than $1.9 million in prize money to competition winners in up to 30 challenges. Competition proposals will derive from internal ONC staff and fellow HHS agencies.

ONC believes that competitions have a number of potential benefits. Under the right circumstances, they may allow the government to:

  • Establish an important goal without having to choose the approach or the team that is most likely to succeed;
  • Pay only for results;
  • Increase the number and diversity of the individuals, organizations, and teams that are addressing a particular problem or challenge of national or international significance;
  • Stimulate private sector investment that is many times greater than the cash value of the award; and
  • Further a Federal agency’s mission by attracting more interest and attention to a defined program, activity, or issue of concern.

The competitions will focus on innovations that support (1) the goals of HITECH and clearing hurdles related to the achievement of widespread Health IT adoption and meaningful use, (2) ONC’s and HHS’ programs and programmatic goals, and (3) the achievement of a nationwide learning health system that improves quality, safety, and/or efficiency of health care.

For questions relating to the Investing in Innovations program, please email Wil Yu.

Additional Resources

HHS and The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology introduce new Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative
Press Release from Department of Health and Human Services on June 8, 2011

Washington, D.C. — The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced today the Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative – a bold new program designed to spur innovations in health IT. The program centers on prizes and competitions to accelerate the development of solutions and communities around key challenges in health IT.

This landmark initiative is the first Administration-wide program using prizes and challenges to advance an agency’s mission made possible by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, signed into law by President Obama on Jan. 4, 2011. The Act invests in innovation through research and development and seeks to improve the competitiveness of the United States.

As part of the initiative’s rollout, ONC has awarded nearly $5 million to the Capital Consulting Corporation (CCC) and Health 2.0 LLC, to fund projects supporting innovations in research and encouraging health IT development through open-innovation mechanisms like prizes and challenges.

“The initiative demonstrates ONC’s recognition of the importance of investing in innovations and provides a platform that will attract an expanded community of innovators to the full range of the agency’s programs.  It opens the door to new opportunities for open collaboration from a wide range of diverse individuals and organizations that will increase the national rate of innovation and adoption of health IT as we improve health care of all Americans,” said Farzad Mostashari, M.D., Sc.M., national coordinator for health information technology.

The i2 Initiative will consult stakeholders across the health care sector including hospitals, doctors, consumers, payers, states, employers, advocates, and relevant federal agencies to obtain direct input on execution and to build partnerships.

The core of the i2 Initiative is an effort to use prizes and challenges to facilitate innovation and obtain solutions to identified health IT challenges.  Recognizing the promise of prizes and challenges, the President has called on agencies to promote innovation by using such innovation tools to address intractable problems. The use of prizes and competitions is widely regarded as a powerful tool to attract innovators from all walks of life to address hard problems with the added benefit of only rewarding best-in-class work. The approach makes possible rapid response to emerging issues that are difficult to address with more traditional funding approaches.

Examples of health IT competition topics developed in consultation with CCC and Health 2.0 LLC, include the following:

  • Applications that allow an individual to securely and effectively share health information with members of his or her social network;
  • Applications that generate results for patients, caregivers, and/or clinicians by providing them with access to rigorous and relevant information that can support real needs and immediate decisions;
  • Applications that allow individuals to connect during natural disasters and other periods of emergency; and
  • Tools that facilitate exchange of health information while allowing individuals to customize the privacy allowances for their personal health records.

Another component of the i2 Initiative will support analysis of the current health IT environment in an effort to track and model clusters of innovation, while simultaneously identifying connections between disparate innovator communities.  The effort will identify technology development trends in a fast-moving sector to inform future advisory and policy-making activities.

Capital Consulting Corporation, Health 2.0 LLC, along with other contributors will help provide detailed and up-to-date analysis of relevant, emerging innovations and associated trends that will help ONC and other HHS agencies better understand these developments, as well as the issues that surround them.

ONC recognizes that policies that do not appropriately anticipate technological change can jeopardize success by potentially limiting competition and setting in stone inferior technologies. Accurate and timely information from this phase of the initiative will enable the Federal government to engage in methodical and strategic health IT policies.

“Through the i2 Initiative, ONC is directly supporting innovation in health IT to accelerate the nation’s progress toward a high-performing, adaptive health care system,” said Wil Yu, the special assistant for innovations within ONC.

For more information please visit ONC’s home page at http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__onc/1200.

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HHS and The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology introduce new Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative
Press Release from US Department of Health and Human Services on June 8, 2011

Washington, D.C. — The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced today the Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative – a bold new program designed to spur innovations in health IT. The program centers on prizes and competitions to accelerate the development of solutions and communities around key challenges in health IT.

This landmark initiative is the first Administration-wide program using prizes and challenges to advance an agency’s mission made possible by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, signed into law by President Obama on Jan. 4, 2011. The Act invests in innovation through research and development and seeks to improve the competitiveness of the United States.

As part of the initiative’s rollout, ONC has awarded nearly $5 million to the Capital Consulting Corporation (CCC) and Health 2.0 LLC, to fund projects supporting innovations in research and encouraging health IT development through open-innovation mechanisms like prizes and challenges.

“The initiative demonstrates ONC’s recognition of the importance of investing in innovations and provides a platform that will attract an expanded community of innovators to the full range of the agency’s programs.  It opens the door to new opportunities for open collaboration from a wide range of diverse individuals and organizations that will increase the national rate of innovation and adoption of health IT as we improve health care of all Americans,” said Farzad Mostashari, M.D., Sc.M., national coordinator for health information technology.

The i2 Initiative will consult stakeholders across the health care sector including hospitals, doctors, consumers, payers, states, employers, advocates, and relevant federal agencies to obtain direct input on execution and to build partnerships.

The core of the i2 Initiative is an effort to use prizes and challenges to facilitate innovation and obtain solutions to identified health IT challenges.  Recognizing the promise of prizes and challenges, the President has called on agencies to promote innovation by using such innovation tools to address intractable problems. The use of prizes and competitions is widely regarded as a powerful tool to attract innovators from all walks of life to address hard problems with the added benefit of only rewarding best-in-class work. The approach makes possible rapid response to emerging issues that are difficult to address with more traditional funding approaches.

Examples of health IT competition topics developed in consultation with CCC and Health 2.0 LLC, include the following:

  • Applications that allow an individual to securely and effectively share health information with members of his or her social network;
  • Applications that generate results for patients, caregivers, and/or clinicians by providing them with access to rigorous and relevant information that can support real needs and immediate decisions;
  • Applications that allow individuals to connect during natural disasters and other periods of emergency; and
  • Tools that facilitate exchange of health information while allowing individuals to customize the privacy allowances for their personal health records.

Another component of the i2 Initiative will support analysis of the current health IT environment in an effort to track and model clusters of innovation, while simultaneously identifying connections between disparate innovator communities.  The effort will identify technology development trends in a fast-moving sector to inform future advisory and policy-making activities.

Capital Consulting Corporation, Health 2.0 LLC, along with other contributors will help provide detailed and up-to-date analysis of relevant, emerging innovations and associated trends that will help ONC and other HHS agencies better understand these developments, as well as the issues that surround them.

ONC recognizes that policies that do not appropriately anticipate technological change can jeopardize success by potentially limiting competition and setting in stone inferior technologies. Accurate and timely information from this phase of the initiative will enable the Federal government to engage in methodical and strategic health IT policies.

“Through the i2 Initiative, ONC is directly supporting innovation in health IT to accelerate the nation’s progress toward a high-performing, adaptive health care system,” said Wil Yu, the special assistant for innovations within ONC.

For more information please visit ONC’s home page at http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__onc/1200.

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Posted in Government, Innovation, ONC | No Comments »

ONC Blogs on multi-EHR certification and other issues

June 11th, 2011

Perpetually Perplexed by Regulatory Interpretations? Separate the Fact from Fiction
June 10, 2011, 2:45 pm /Posted by Steven Posnack, Director Federal Policy Division, ONC, on ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog and republished by e-Healthcare Marketing here.

If enough people believe something, it has to be true, right? In my travels, I’ve found that regulatory interpretations range from being largely factual to wildly fictitious. The latter often results from misinterpretations of regulatory language, improper combinations of regulatory language from different rules, or accurate interpretations getting lost in translation as they are passed from person-to-person. These inaccurate interpretations, intentional or not, often unsurprisingly lead to confusion. Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful to clear up a few things I’ve heard related to certification.

  • Statement 1: If an eligible professional or eligible hospital combines multiple certified electronic health record (EHR) Modules together (or a certified EHR Module[s] with a certified Complete EHR), that combination also needs to be separately certified in order for it to meet the definition of Certified EHR Technology – *FICTION*
    • Part 2 of the definition of Certified EHR Technology acknowledges that a combination of certified EHR Modules can be used to meet the definition of Certified EHR Technology.  At 75 FR 2023, we clarified that as long as each EHR Module which makes up the combination has been certified, the definition could be met. See also FAQ 17.
    • Combining certified EHR Modules or certified EHR Modules with a certified Complete EHR (or even two certified Complete EHRs) will not invalidate the certification assigned to the EHR technologies. Each EHR technology retains the certification assigned to it.  Our FAQs (such as #7, #14, and #21) identify cases where combining certified Complete EHRs with other certified EHR Modules could occur without any negative effects.
    • Note, generating the “CMS EHR Certification ID” on ONC’s Certified HIT Products List (CHPL) for meaningful use attestation purposes is different. Using the CHPL, an eligible professional (EP) or eligible hospital (EH) generates a CMS EHR Certification ID (a unique alpha-numeric string) to report to CMS as part of its attestation. The CMS EHR Certification ID represents the combination of certified EHR Modules or other combination of certified EHR technologies that meet the definition of Certified EHR Technology and were used during the meaningful use reporting period.
  • Statement 2: The ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs) operate under contract with and receive funding from ONC – *FICTION*
    • ONC-ATCBs do not receive funding from ONC to perform their ONC-ATCB duties.  ONC-ATCBs support their operations through testing and certification fees charged to Complete EHR and EHR Module developers.
    • The Temporary Certification Program Final Rule established certain responsibilities and rules for ONC-ATCBs.  ONC-ATCBs must fulfill these requirements and adhere to the rules in order to maintain good standing under the program. For example, ISO/IEC Guide 65 requires ONC-ATCBs to make their services accessible to all applicants (e.g., EHR developers) whose activities fall within its declared field of operation (e.g., the temporary certification program), including not having any undue financial or other conditions.
  • Statement 3: Testing and certification under the Temporary Certification Program does not examine whether two randomly combined EHR Modules will be compatible or work together – *FACT*
    • ONC-ATCBs are not required to examine the compatibility of two or more EHR Modules with each other.  EHR Module developers, however, are free, and highly encouraged, to work together to ensure that EHR Modules are compatible. 
  • Statement 4: The ONC-ATCBs favor big EHR technology developers – *FICTION*
    • The ONC-ATCBs do not favor large developers, and such favoritism is precluded by the international standards to which ONC-ATCBs must adhere.
    • As of June 3, 2011, 438 EHR technology developers were represented on the CHPL.  Of those, approximately 60 percent are small companies (<51 employees) and approximately 12 percent are large companies (>200 employees).
  • Statement 5: Certification doesn’t require that an EHR technology designed by one EHR developer make its data accessible or “portable” to another EHR technology designed by a different developer – *FACT*
    • We are very interested in exploring future certification requirements to improve data portability.
    • If you have any insights on how to improve data portability between EHR technologies, please feel free to leave a comment below. 
  • Statement 6: As an EP or EH, you need to demonstrate meaningful use in the exact way that EHR technology was tested and certified – *FICTION* (mostly)
    • See the jointly posted ONC and CMS FAQs (#24 or 10473) 
  • Statement 7: Certifications “expire” every two years – *FICTION*
    • A certification represents a “snapshot.”  It indicates that EHR technology has met specific certification criteria at a fixed point in time. In other words, an EHR technology would not “lose its certification” after a given time period.  If, however, certification requirements change (e.g., new and/or revised certification criteria are adopted), the snapshot the certification represents would no longer accurately reflect that the EHR technology meets the changed requirements.
    • In our certification program rules, we indicated that we anticipated adopting new and/or revised certification criteria every two years to coincide with changes to the meaningful use objectives and measures under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. We did not, however, set a specific expiration for certifications.  Rather, we explained that once the Secretary adopts new and/or revised certification criteria, EHR technology may need to be tested and certified again. In other words, the previously taken snapshot would no longer accurately represent what is required to meet the adopted certification criteria and, thus, would no longer be sufficient to support an EP or EH’s ability to achieve updated meaningful use requirements.
    • For more information about the validity of a certification, please refer to the Temporary Certification Program final rule (75 FR 36188) and the Permanent Certification Program final rule (76 FR 1301).

As someone who has played a roll in drafting all of ONC’s regulations, I take pride in making our rules readily understandable and as easy to read as possible. Sometimes, though, no matter how hard we try to convey a regulation’s intent, there is always another believable interpretation. Hopefully, this blog helps clear up a few points and furthers your personal understanding of our rules.
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To post comments directly on ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog post, click here.

Posted in Certification for EHRs, Digital Physicians, EHRs, Government, Hospitals, ONC | No Comments »

CMS to Announce 3 new Innovation Programs May 17

May 17th, 2011

Pioneer ACO Model, Advanced Payment Program, Advanced Development Learning Session
Washington, DC — April 17, 2011.  At a Brookings Institution event hosted by Mark McClellan on ONC’s Beacon Communities today, Joe McCannon, Senior Advisor to the Administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced three programs to be more formally announced later today with more details:

1. Pioneer ACO Model: will tap groups experienced in coordinated care working together loking in first two years for higher level of share savings and higher level of risk. By third year, if successful, the model will move to population-based model.

2. Advanced Payment Program: proposal to provide advance on shared savings with strong oversight.

3. Advanced Development Learning Sessions: four sessions proposed, starting June 20, 2011, with intense curriculums including executive teams to dive into what’s needed. First session on June 20 will focus on preparing for coordinated care opportunities.

More info to come later from CMS Innovation Center http://innovations.cms.gov and from the major news sources covering health IT and CMS. Will catch up later on this at e-Healthcare Marketing.

CONFERENCE CALL MAY 17, 2011: 1:30PM EDT
Emailed May 17, 2011 by CMS.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced three Affordable Care Act initiatives designed to help put doctors, hospitals and other health care providers on the path to becoming Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) and improve health care for Americans with Medicare.

First, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) is requesting applications for a new Pioneer ACO Model, which provides a faster path for mature ACOs that have already begun coordinating care for patients and are ready to move forward.

Second, the Innovation Center is seeking comment on the idea of an Advance Payment Initiative that give certain ACOs participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program access to their shared savings up front, helping them make the infrastructure and staff investments crucial to successfully coordinating and improving care for patients.

Finally, providers interested in learning more about how to coordinate patient care through ACOs can attend free new Accelerated Development Learning Sessions.  The Accelerated Development Learning Sessions will teach providers interested in becoming ACOs what steps they can take to improve care delivery and how to develop an action plan for moving toward providing better coordinated care.

Together with the Medicare Shared Savings Program, the initiatives announced today give providers a broad range of options and support that reflect the varying needs of providers in embarking on delivery system reforms.  CMS issued a proposed rule to implement the Medicare Shared Savings Program in March 2011 and is continuing to encourage and accept comments from providers and the public that will help strengthen the final rule.

These initiatives are part of a broader effort by the Obama Administration, made possible by the Affordable Care Act, to improve care and lower costs.

For more information about the announcement, click here.

For a fact sheet, click here.

For additional information about all of these initiatives, visit the Innovation Center website.

Reminder -Please join us on Tuesday, May 17, 2011 for a conference call with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Donald Berwick and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Acting Director Dr. Richard Gilfillan to discuss new efforts to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries through Accountable Care Organizations.

WHO: Dr. Donald Berwick, Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Dr. Richard Gilfillan, Acting Director, CMS Innovation Center

Peter Lee, Deputy Director, CMS Innovation Center

WHEN: Tuesday, May 17, 2011,  1:30 PM EDT
DIAL:              1-800-837-1935
PASSCODE:  68658167

Posted in Beacon Communities, CMS, Government, Innovation | No Comments »

HIT Pro: Health IT Professionals Exams Open May 20

May 16th, 2011

The Health IT Professionals Exams Open May 20, 2011.

HIT Pro

HIT Pro Competency Exams

Competency Examination Program
Accessed May 15, 2011.
In April 2010, ONC awarded $6 million in a two-year cooperative agreement to Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) Exit Disclaimer to develop health information technology (health IT) competency examinations for individuals completing short-term, non-degree training programs, and members of the workforce with relevant experience or others types of training. 

These competency examinations will enable health IT professionals, employers, and other stakeholders to assess their own health IT competency levels or the competency of their health IT staff members, as appropriate. The examinations may also be used by employers to identify training gaps and personnel needs integral to achieving meaningful use of electronic health information.

About the Exams
The Health IT Professionals Exams will be open to individuals beginning on May 20, 2011. The six exams, aligned with the roles and training provided by the Community College Consortia, will each consist of 125 multiple-choice questions to be completed in three hours. The exam blueprints below detail the topics covered in each exam:
Taking the Exams
The test specialist Pearson Vue will hold each exam at one of  its 230 nationwide test centers (locate the nearest center Exit Disclaimer). Individuals taking the May exam will receive their results in the mail four-to-six weeks after they take it. The September exam will provide live scoring.
Individuals can make reservations to take exams with Pearson Vue either by telephone (888-944-8776) or online Exit Disclaimer. At that point, individuals may cancel or reschedule their reservations up to 48 hours before the appointment. In the absence of an emergency, individuals who fail to make their appointment will be charged a fee and will lose the free voucher.
The cost of the first exam for individuals without a voucher is $299. The cost for individuals re-taking an exam or taking an additional exam for another role is $199.
Vouchers for the Exams
Free exam vouchers, enabling individuals to take their first exam at no cost, will be available for students trained through the Community College Consortia program and for other individuals with relevant experience, training, or education in health care or IT. Vouchers will be available soon through Pearson Vue’s Voucher Store Exit Disclaimer and may be ordered by the following institutions:
  • Members of the Community College Consortia
  • Other accredited academic institutions
  • State and local employment agencies
  • Health care providers
These institutions may distribute vouchers to individuals who meet the aforementioned criteria. The vouchers will expire four months after being ordered.
Learn more about ONC’s Competency Examination Program:
For questions relating to the Competency Examination Program, email HITCompetencyExam@hhs.gov.

Posted in Education & Training, Government, ONC | 2 Comments »

CMS Publishes PDF of EHR Incentive Program FAQs: 85 Pages, May 2

May 15th, 2011

85 Pages of FAQs for EHR Incentive Program (pdf)
Click here for PDF version updated on May 2, 2011
Since May 2 PDF, some FAQs have updated electronically on CMS Web site, and links to online FAQs are below.

CMS FAQs: EHR Incentive Payments Program

CMS FAQs

 

Leading FAQs: When’s the money coming for Eligible Professionals under the Medicare Program?
Medicaid Programs are rolling out on state-by-state basis.

Excerpted on May 14, 2011:
For the 2011 payment year, how and when will incentive payments be made to Eligible Professionals?

Published 10/18/2010 10:36 AM   |    Updated 04/26/2011 05:42 PM   |    Answer ID 10160

For the 2011 payment year, how and when will incentive payments for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs be made?

For eligible professionals (EPs), incentive payments for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program will be made approximately four to eight weeks after an EP successfully attests that they have demonstrated meaningful use of certified EHR technology. However, EPs will not receive incentive payments within that timeframe if they have not yet met the threshold for allowed charges for covered professional services furnished by the EP during the year. Payments will be held until the EP meets the $24,000 threshold in allowed charges for calendar year 2011 in order to maximize the amount of the EHR incentive payment they receive. If the EP has not met the $24,000 threshold in allowed charges by the end of calendar year 2011, CMS expects to issue an incentive payment for the EP in March 2012 (allowing 60 days after the end of the 2011 calendar year for all pending claims to be processed). Payments to Medicare EPs will be made to the taxpayer identification number (TIN) selected at the time of registration, through the same channels their claims payments are made. The form of payment (electronic funds transfer or check) will be the same as claims payments.

Bonus payments for EPs who practice predominantly in a geographic Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) will be made as separate lump-sum payments no later than 120 days after the end of the calendar year for which the EP was eligible for the bonus payment.

Please note that the 90-day reporting period an EP selects does not affect the amount of the EHR incentive payments. The Medicare EHR incentive payments to EPs are based on 75% of the estimated allowed charges for covered professional services furnished by the EP during the entire payment year. If the EP has not met the $24,000 threshold in allowed charges at the time of attestation, CMS will hold the incentive payment until the EP meets the threshold as described above.

Medicare EHR incentive payments to eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) will also be made approximately four to eight weeks after the eligible hospital or CAH successfully attests to having demonstrated meaningful use of certified EHR technology. Eligible hospitals and CAHs will receive an initial payment and a final payment. Eligible hospitals and CAHs that attest in April can receive their initial payment as early as May 2011. Final payment will be determined at the time of settling the hospital cost report.

Please note that the Medicaid incentives will be paid by the States, but the timing will vary according to State. Please contact your State Medicaid Agency for more details about payment.

When will CMS begin to pay incentives to EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs for using certified…..

Published 08/13/2010 04:12 PM   |    Updated 04/18/2011 11:14 AM   |    Answer ID 10066

When will the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) begin to pay incentives to eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) for using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology?

Payments for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program are expected to be available as early as May 2011. Attestation for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program opened on April 18, 2011. Registration for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program began on January 3, 2011 and is available online at https://ehrincentives.cms.gov. Please note that although the Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs began January 3, 2011, not all states are ready to participate at this time. Information on when registration will be available for Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs in specific States is posted at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/40_MedicaidStateInfo.asp.

For more information about the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, please visit: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms.

Online FAQs for CMS EHR Incentive Program

All EHR Incentive Program FAQs

Posted in CMS, Digital Physicians, EHRs, Government, Hospitals | No Comments »

Beacon Communities: One Year Review on Blog, Brookings and Webcast

May 15th, 2011

Beacon Community Program


Blog: What We Can Learn from the Beacon Communities on Their First Birthday?
Brookings Event: May 17 8:30am to 12:00noon
Webcast From Brookings: Click here Health IT Buzz Blog: What We Can Learn from the Beacon Communities on Their First Birthday?

May 13, 2011 / Originally Posted by Aaron McKethan, Director of Beacon Communities Program, on ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog and reposted by e-Healthcare Marketing

A year has passed since 17 diverse communities nationwide were notified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) that they would receive Beacon Community awards. These critical resources empowered the Beacon Community Awardees (“the Beacons”) to build and strengthen their local health IT capacity, use health IT in innovative ways to improve the efficiency and quality of care they can provide their patients, and identify and disseminate these innovations and lessons-learned to others.

Over the past year, as we have documented in a recent Health Affairs article and as we will discuss at our upcoming May 17 Brookings Institution “Beacon Birthday” event, the Beacons have focused on clearly defining who their communities are. They have done so using data (such as patterns of where patients seek care), and community engagement activities (including public meetings and direct engagement with hospital leaders, physicians, and consumer organization leaders) to paint a picture of the local “community” on whose behalf the Beacon interventions are being deployed.

This past year has been a busy and productive one for the Beacons. For example, they have established governance structures that give local stakeholders a voice, but also permit the community to make decisions quickly when necessary. They have worked to achieve local consensus on core health and health care improvement objectives, while partnering with local evaluation, health IT, and clinical leaders to identify and establish baselines for relevant measures to track progress on meeting those objectives over time. Beacon leaders have also worked to design and deploy the initial wave of clinical interventions relevant to these objectives, such as changes in processes that hospitals use to discharge patients so they can manage their own health and exchange information with their regular physician. And, they have designed strategies to deploy those interventions in ways that will allow for refinements to be made based on early results. In other words, they have not only put in place innovative strategies for improving care, but also systems that allow them to learn from challenges and obstacles and make the improvements necessary.

Beacon Communities like that in Bangor, ME have used the development of a statewide governance process to ensure that performance improvement goals being pursued through the Bangor Beacon are aligned with overall policy and strategic goals at the state level.

Beacon Communities have also committed considerable time and attention to establishing a focused set of community objectives. The public officials and other health care leaders involved in the Crescent City Beacon Community in New Orleans, LA, for example, have worked hard to identify a core set of community objectives that unite the interests of the entire stakeholder community, including large academic health systems, small health centers, physician practices and, of course, patients. An encouraging aspect of this work is that these objectives are not merely being established to fulfill the requirements of the Beacon grant program, but also to help chart a course for the community over the longer term.

In addition, Beacon Communities have each worked to establish a baseline using performance measurements and data derived from multiple sources, including electronic health records. They have experienced firsthand the challenges of combining data from multiple sources to better understand the “current state” of the community’s performance on key indicators like hospital readmissions, rates of “good” diabetes care, or prevention indicators. The Keystone Beacon Community, for example, has used its baseline data to help track its progress in delivering care management support to patients facing multiple chronic conditions who typically face the highest risk of costly medical complications that can be prevented through careful care coordination and patient support. In fact, even at this early stage in its development, the Keystone Beacon Community has already documented the avoidance of several serious adverse events using its Beacon care managers and health IT systems.

Further, Beacon Communities in Colorado, North Carolina, and Utah have taken the lead in identifying strategies to facilitate providers participating in the program learning from each other about their experiences using technology and data for performance improvement. Just this week, for example, the Colorado Beacon Consortium is holding its second “learning collaborative” that will provide training and an opportunity for participating physicians and their staffs to learn how best to incorporate new technologies in their practices.

The first year of the Beacon Community program laid the ground work for rapid implementation of core interventions moving forward in each community that will support patients and clinicians in achieving better, more efficient outcomes over the next several years. As we now shift gears from program development to large-scale implementation of clinical interventions, we will take a moment to consider what we’ve already learned at this early stage of the Beacon program.

To learn more about just how far the Beacons have come in blazing the trail on innovatively using health IT to improve the health of their patients in ways that can be adopted by others, come join us on May 17 at the Brookings Institution’s Engelberg Center for Health Reform.Exit Disclaimer The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Dr. Farzad Mostashari, Aneesh Chopra of the White House Office of Science and Technology, Joe McCannon from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Mark McClellan of the Brookings Institution, several Beacon leaders, and I will discuss how health IT may be best used to improve health care quality and reduce costs with a special emphasis on what we can learn from the experience of the Beacon Communities on their first birthday. We will also hear from Beacon leaders about their perspectives about how health IT-driven health care improvements can be sustained by linking health IT investments to payment reforms that increasingly reward improvements in outcomes.

Please also check out a series of blog posts by individual Beacons to be published by Health Affairs over the next week that will provide yet more detail on the truly innovative work Beacons are doing across the country to realize the potential of health IT to improve health and health care. Finally, please join me on May 18 between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. ET at #ONCchat for a live twitter chat moderated by Sherri Reynolds (Beacon Board member and consumer advocate engaged with Beacon development in Washington state) when I will be taking your questions about the topics and themes that emerge from the May 17 Brookings event and shared lessons-learned about the Beacons at the one-year mark.

Brookings Event:
“Health IT in an Era of Accountable Care: Update from the Beacon Communities”
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Hosted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution

The event will highlight:

  • Beacon Community Program accomplishments and future plans
  • Insights on meaningful use of health IT
  • The expansion of provider payment reforms

U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, Senior Advisor to the CMS Administrator Joseph McCannon, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Dr. Farzad Mostashari, and Director of Beacon Communities Program Aaron McKethan, will offer keynote remarks.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (EDT)

WHERE: Falk Auditorium, The Brookings Institution,
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036

To join Brookings for this event, please RSVP to Erin Weireter at eweireter@brookings.edu or 202-797-6033.

If you are unable to attend, the event will be available to remote participants via a free Webcast. A video will also be available soon after the event on the Brookings website and ONC YouTube channel.

If you have any questions regarding the Webcast or the event, please contact Amanda Misiti at Amanda.Misiti@hhs.gov.

Brookings Event Agenda
Opening Remarks and Meeting Objectives
Mark McClellan, Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings

Keynote Address: An Update on the Federal Health IT Strategy
Aneesh Chopra, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Joseph McCannon, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Farzad Mostashari, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Panel I: Priorities for Health System Improvement
Aaron McKethan, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology – Moderator
Marc Bennett, HealthInsight, Inc.
Ted Chan, University of California, San Diego Medical Center
Sherry Reynolds, Beacon Community of the Inland Northwest
Julie Schilz, Colorado Beacon Consortium
Herb Smitherman, Jr., Wayne State University

Panel II: Harnessing IT for Payment Reforms
Mark McClellan – Moderator
Catherine Bruno, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems
Christopher Chute, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Robert Steffel, HealthBridge
James Walker, Geisinger Health System

Closing Remarks
Mark McClellan
Farzad Mostashari

Free Live Webcast from Brookings. Archived video will also be available soon after the event on the Brookings website and ONC YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/HHSONC .

Beacon Communities

(Accessed on ONC site on May 14, 2011)
Listed below are the 17 Beacon Communities, their awards, and snapshot of their goals. For further  information about a specific Beacon Community, click the name of the community. As of May 14, 2011, ONC has added a PDF overview of each Beacon Community in addition to a previously published video for each and the Community’s web site where they exist.

Beacon Community

Award Amount

Goal
Bangor Beacon Community, Brewer, ME $12,749,740 Improve the health of patients with diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, and asthma by enhancing care management; improving access to, and use of, adult immunization data; preventing unnecessary ED visits and re-admissions to hospitals; and facilitating access to patient records using health information technology.
Beacon Community of the Inland Northwest, Spokane, WA $15,702,479 Increase care coordination for patients with diabetes in rural areas and expand the existing health information exchange to provide a higher level of connectivity throughout the region.
Colorado Beacon Community, Grand Junction, CO $11,878,279 Demonstrate how costs can be reduced and patient care improved, through the collection, analysis, and sharing of clinical data, and the redesign of primary care practices and clinics.
Crescent City Beacon Community, New Orleans, LA $13,525,434 Reduce racial health disparities and improve control of diabetes and smoking cessation rates by linking technically isolated health systems, providers, and hospitals; and empower patients by increasing their access to Personal Health Records.
Delta BLUES Beacon Community, Stoneville, MS $14,666,156 Improve access to care for diabetic patients through the meaningful use of electronic health records and health information exchange by primary care providers in the Mississippi Delta, and increase the efficiency of health care in the area by reducing excess health care costs for patients with diabetes through the use of electronic health record.
Greater Cincinnati Beacon Community, Cincinnati, OH $13,775,630 Develop new quality improvement and care coordination initiatives focusing on patients with pediatric asthma, adult diabetes, and encouraging smoking cessation, and provide better clinical information and IT “decision support” tools to physicians, health systems, federally qualified health centers, and critical access hospitals.
Greater Tulsa Health Access Network Beacon Community, Tulsa, OK $12,043,948 Leverage broad community partnerships with hospitals, providers, payers, and government agencies to expand a community-wide care coordination system, which will increase appropriate referrals for cancer screenings, decrease unnecessary specialist visits and (with telemedicine) increase access to care for patients with diabetes.
Hawaii County Beacon Community, Hilo, HI $16,091,390 Improve the health of the Hawaii Island residents through implementation of a series of healthcare system improvements and interventions across independent hospitals, physicians and physician groups. Engaging patients in their own healthcare is also a primary focus.
Western New York Beacon Community, Buffalo, NY $16,092,485 Expand the Western New York network, close gaps in service, and improve health outcomes for patients with diabetes.
Utah Beacon Community, Salt Lake City, UT $15,790,181 Improve the management and coordination of care for patients with diabetes and other life-threatening conditions, decrease unnecessary costs in the health care system, and improve public health.
Central Indiana Beacon Community, Indianapolis, IN $16,008,431 Expand the country’s largest Health Information Exchange to new community providers in order to improve cholesterol and blood sugar control for diabetic patients and reduce preventable re-admissions through telemonitoring of high risk chronic disease patients after hospital discharge.
Keystone Beacon Community, Danville, PA $16,069,110 Establish community-wide care coordination through the expanded availability and use of health information technology for both clinicians and patients in a five-county area to enhance care for patients with pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.
Rhode Island Beacon Community, Providence, RI $15,914,787 Improve the management of care through several health information technology initiatives to support Rhode Island’s transition to the Patient Centered Medical Home model, which create systems to measure and report processes and outcomes that drive improved quality, reduce health care costs, and improve health outcomes.
San Diego Beacon Community, San Diego, CA $15,275,115 Expand electronic health information exchange to enable providers to improve medical care decisions and overall care quality, to empower patients to engage in their own health management, and to reduce unnecessary and redundant testing.
Southeast Michigan Beacon Community, Detroit, MI $16,224,370 Make long-term, sustainable improvements in the quality and efficiency of diabetes care through leveraging existing and new technologies across health care settings, and providing practical support to help clinicians, nurses, and other health professionals make the best use of electronic health data.
Southeastern Minnesota Beacon Community, Rochester, MN $12,284,770 Enhance patient care management, reduce costs associated with hospitalization and emergency services for patients with diabetes and childhood asthma, and reduce health disparities for underserved populations and rural communities.
Southern Piedmont Beacon Community, Concord, NC $15,907,622 Increase use health information technology, including health information exchange among providers and increased patient access to health records to improve coordination of care, encourage patient involvement in their own medical care, and improve health outcomes while controlling cost.

Health Affairs, April 2011
“An Early Status Report On The Beacon Communities’ Plans For Transformation Via Health Information Technology”
Authors: Aaron McKethan, Craig Brammer, Parastou Fatemi, Minyoung Kim, Janhavi Kirtane, Jason Kunzman, Shaline Rao, and Sachin H. Jain.

Aaron McKethan is program director and Craig Brammer is the deputy director of the Beacon Community Program in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Department of Health and Human Services, in Washington, D.C.

“Based on the early experiences of the seventeen diverse Beacon Communities, this paper describes program design features that characterize how these initiatives are organized.”

Link to Health Affairs Abstract

Posted in Beacon Communities, Government, Innovation, ONC, States | No Comments »

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