Government & Policy

The Omnibus Burden Reduction and Discharge Planning rules both aim to reduce red tape and enable transparency, says Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma.

Providers nationwide need to make an organizational commitment to addressing social needs and health disparities, says the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine – and policymakers need to sort out IT infrastructure and reimbursement.

At Health 2.0, HHS Chief Data Officer Mona Siddiqui spotlighted recent efforts, including some cloud-based dynamic data and mapping tools, to link far-flung data for better public health.

An alphabet soup of healthcare stakeholders, including AHIMA, CHIME, MGMA and others, want the Senate HELP Committee to ensure the proposed regs serve the "needs of patients and those who deliver their care."

For its 13th annual National Health IT Week, which kicks off today and runs through Sept. 27, HIMSS will be focusing on how public- and private-sector stakeholders can better align information and technology to drive advancements in population health. WHY IT MATTERS With the theme this year of Supporting Healthy Communities, HIMSS will be convening in-person and virtual events – along with White House officials, Congressional leaders, federal and state agencies, healthcare providers and community groups nationwide – to spotlight opportunities to address five key factors of community health: Advancing public and population health Modernizing the public health infrastructure Accelerating workforce development Expanding access to broadband and telehealth Addressing social determinants of health More than 500 different stakeholders, including government agencies, industry and community groups nationwide, are participating, in NHIT events all week long. You can see a full listing of events here and follow along on Twitter using the hashtags #NHITweek, #HITworks, #IHeartHIT or #GovHIT. Be sure to check back on Healthcare IT News this week for further coverage of NHIT Week events. THE LARGER TREND National Health IT Week's theme of Supporting Healthy Communities coincides with our own focus this month on the social determinants of health. So far in September, HITN and its sister sites have explored data-driven partnerships, the impact of social services spending, how AI is helping providers manage SDOH data, and how other new technologies and new ideas are changing the calculous for personal and population health. ON THE RECORD "Advancing public health and population health efforts will be critical to overcoming the problems that drive poor health outcomes and in turn will facilitate supporting healthy communities," according to HIMSS. "Communities must learn how to identify linkages with existing mobile/telehealth/social media technologies. The drive toward smart cities and communities may be most impactful in advancing public and population health, particularly when they are able to interoperate across core health, human services and non-health sector systems." .jumbotron{ background-image: url("https://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/hitn/files/u2556/SocialDeterminantJumbotron.jpg"); background-size: cover; color: white; } .jumbotron h2{ color: white; } Focus on Social Determinants of Health In September, Healthcare Finance News, Healthcare IT News and MobiHealthNews will take a look at the SDOH and how varied health systems, IT companies, Congress and others are addressing it. Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.

At Health 2.0, National Coordinator for Health IT Dr. Donald Rucker and other clinical IT leaders explore the root causes of the burnout epidemic – and offer a wishlist of tech innovations that could help.

The platform, Critical Care Suite, developed in partnership with UC San Francisco and powered by GE's Edison AI technology, can help radiologists prioritize cases involving collapsed lungs.

The voluntary recommendations from the industry group, which aim to build consumer trust in companies that handle health and wellness data, are meant to supplement, not supplant, existing legal requirements, says CTA.

Two interoperability projects will get a funding boost from the Leading Edge Acceleration Projects in Health Information Technology, or LEAP in Health IT program, launched by the The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information IT. WHY IT MATTERS The LEAP in Health IT awardees will get address fast emerging and future challenges to advance the development and use of interoperable health IT. The specific focus is twofold. ONC was seeking innovations in the standardization and implementation of scalable FHIR consent resources, and the design, development and demonstration of enhanced patient engagement technologies. The 2019 awardees are San Diego Regional Health Information Exchange and University of Texas at Austin. San Diego Regional HIE, with an eye toward standards, use case and community testing, will develop and make available FHIR Consent Implementation Guide and package new open-source prototypes and content to assist partners in using the FHIR Consent Resource. University of Texas at Austin will develop and test a patient-engagement platform to support an array of mobile apps aimed at underrepresented populations. The focus will be on privacy and security needs, user-centered design approaches and appropriate data sharing across patients, clinicians and researchers. THE LARGER TREND ONC says the LEAP in Health IT initiative is aimed at "well-documented and fast emerging challenges that inhibit the development, use, and/or advancement of well-designed, interoperable health IT. It is expected to further a new generation of health IT development and inform the innovative implementation and refinement of standards, methods, and techniques for overcoming major barriers and challenges as they are identified." These initiatives are the most recent in ONC's ongoing efforts to spur interoperability innovation across healthcare. While another project, CONNECT, recently transitioned from ONC control to the private sector, other efforts continue as the agency pushes forward on data exchange imperatives of the 21st Century Cures Act. ON THE RECORD "These projects will make it easier for our increasingly complex health care system to leverage the latest technological advancements and breakthroughs more quickly and to enable real-time solutions to health care challenges," said National Coordinator for Health IT Dr. Don Rucker, in a statement.   Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.