In October, we provided comments to ONC on its April 2015 “Report on Health Information Blocking”, in the spirit of collaborating to establish an environment where the right data can flow to the right party at the right time using a set of agreed-upon standards. While some press coverage characterized our comments as negative (“…Prove It”), we in fact attempted to provide balanced feedback, recognizing that the first challenge is to come up with a definition of “information blocking” that everyone agrees on.
EHRA’s Advice to ONC on Information Blocking
Posted by ewest123 on November 15, 2015
https://ehrablog.org/2015/11/15/ehras-advice-to-onc-on-information-blocking/
Privacy and Security, and Building Patient Trust
Earlier this year, ONC published an updated “Guide to Privacy and Security of Electronic Health Information” to help healthcare providers and ambulatory practices understand existing federal law on protected health information (PHI). It provides guidance on how providers can use certified electronic medical record technology (CEHRT) to provide secure communications with their patients and, via secure and interoperable health IT, share patient data with other care providers.
There is a great deal of practical information provided in this guide that helps explain who is and who is not a business associate (BA), per the HIPAA regulations. It also provides clear guidance as to when it is permissible to disclose PHI, when patient authorizations are required, and how to provide patient access to their health information. In addition, there is a useful section on general cybersecurity explaining the threat of cyber-attacks, the use of mobile devices, and email and texting among providers and their patients.
Posted by ewest123 on September 1, 2015
https://ehrablog.org/2015/09/01/privacy-and-security-and-building-patient-trust/
EHRA Launches Delivery System Reform Workgroup
As health IT professionals supporting hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals across the country, we are paying close attention to the significant efforts by both government and private sector stakeholders to shift the focus of our healthcare system away from volume-driven incentives and towards value-based reimbursement. With that shift, we’re also seeing an increasing recognition for the important role that EHRs and other health information technology tools play in achieving our shared objectives of a more efficient, effective healthcare system.
In response, the EHR Association (EHRA) has launched the Delivery System Reform (DSR) Workgroup as a source of information and education for EHRA members, and to serve as a vehicle for providing input on related Congressional and regulatory initiatives and collaborating with other industry stakeholders.
Posted by ewest123 on August 5, 2015
https://ehrablog.org/2015/08/05/ehra-launches-delivery-system-reform-workgroup/
EHRA Leadership Insights: The SGR Repeal
Leigh Burchell (VP, Policy and Government Affairs at Allscripts), former vice chair of EHRA and current vice chair of our Public Policy Leadership Workgroup, provides background and insights into the recent repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) regulation, why your provider customers are happy about it, and how it moves us forward in implementing a value-based reimbursement model.
Read her post, “R.I.P. SGR” on the Allscripts blog.
Posted by ewest123 on April 21, 2015
https://ehrablog.org/2015/04/21/ehra-leadership-insights-the-sgr-repeal/
EHRA Responds to ONC’s Interoperability Roadmap
After many conference calls, and lots of “on the job training” using Google Docs to manage the edits of many contributors, we were pleased to submit our response to ONC’s Interoperability Roadmap. . . just in time to start working on the interoperability aspects of the proposed rule for Stage 3 of the EHR Incentive Program . . .and to get ready for HIMSS15!
Overall, we’re positive about the framework the draft Roadmap is starting to put in place, its identified principles, and the pragmatic review of well-established and emerging interoperability standards and technologies. We did express some concern that ONC seems to view the many active, and increasingly successful, interoperability initiatives as a problem to be solved rather than work to inform go-forward strategies with valuable experiences to be built upon. In doing so, we provided some positive suggestions on how to approach interoperability governance in ways that rely on and leverage private sector efforts in the context of an effective public/private partnership.
Posted by ewest123 on April 10, 2015
https://ehrablog.org/2015/04/10/ehra-responds-to-oncs-interoperability-roadmap/
EHRA Blog 