Electronic Health Record Association’s Post

We recently received the Signed Voluntary Alignment Response File from our most recent submission to CMS in October. We'll load this data for our ACO clients, process the newly aligned members and the response codes, and create reports that will show the success of our hard work. Can't wait to unpack the data and strategize for the upcoming submission in February! #Medicare #ACO #REACHACO #MSSP #VoluntaryAlignment #healthcareadministration

The United States Core Data for Interoperability Version 5 (USCDI v5) is now available! USCDI v5 includes new data classes and elements that support improved patient care and advance the Administration’s goals of equity, diversity, and access to healthcare. We also released the latest Standards Bulletin 24-2 (SB24-2), which describes ONC’s continued expansion of USCDI, following the same prioritization approach applied to USCDI Version 4. SB24-2 also reflects ONC’s consideration of submissions for new data elements and comments on previously submitted data elements. https://lnkd.in/eRUKtzv7

Day 7 of the 12 Days of PAA! On Thursday, July 20th, The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) published the United States Core Data for Interoperability Version 4 (USCDI v4), which included our proposed Physical Activity Data Elements as Core Measures. What This Means The USCDI is a standardized set of health data classes and constituent data elements for sharing health information across information systems. The addition of our proposed Physical Activity Data Elements to the USCDI v4 means that electronic health record platforms in the United States (i.e. the software platforms used to collect and share patient information) will be required to include the Physical Activity Data Element that captures the following patient data: “Evaluation of a patient's current or usual exercise. Examples include but are not limited to frequency of muscle-strengthening physical activity, days per week with moderate to strenuous physical activity, and minutes per day of moderate to strenuous physical activity.” Those data will eventually be exchanged for assessment, prescription, referral and/or follow-through.

Did you know? 🤔 The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has unveiled the highly anticipated Integrated Healthcare Transformation (IHT) 2.0 Request for Proposal (RFP). This signals a significant stride toward realizing its vision of becoming the nation's premier integrated healthcare system. A staggering potential value of $14 billion. The IHT 2.0 contract presents a substantial opportunity for contractors. Free download. 👇 With #VTDocs, we meticulously dissected the RFP document. We parsed through each sentence without the need for tedious copy-and-paste actions. We saved you a substantial 1634 rows of time-consuming effort. This streamlined process not only expedites completion but also allows for a customizable analysis. We can highlight key terms and requirements for easier scrutiny. The RFP contains multiple tables where our software demonstrated flawless parsing, as illustrated in the accompanying image. The compliance shred and compare report are available for free download: https://lnkd.in/ereuCtbj #govcon

"Major Milestone" may be underselling the significance of this policy change. Currently, the software systems used by healthcare providers to record patient info (i.e. the electronic health records) are not capable of recording physical activity data that can be shared between systems (with few exceptions). However, the ONC's actions, as described below, set in motion a future where all patient info related to physical activity can be tracked and shared across the healthcare system.

Good lord, no rest for the wicked. The summer regulatory barrage continues USCDIv5 finalized. 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 Like all versions of USCDI, this isn't required quite yet. Other regulation will need to point to it. We can expect HTI-2 to potentially be updated in its final rule to use USCDIv5 (I certainly will be commenting to ask for such) 𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 Biggest addition was the new class for Orders. ONC intelligently broke this into Medication, Laboratory, Diagnostic Imaging, Clinical Test, and Procedure to limit scope a bit. 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 ONC added two new note types, the Emergency Department Note and Operative Note. I actually don't care that much about these new note types (it's great, yay) - I'm more bummed they clarified that this data class (Notes) doesn't need to contain structured information. It should absolutely include Author, Date/Time Written, etc. Currently those are optional in the US Core implementation Other updates are iterative and nice.

United States: OIG's New Compliance Guidance: 10 Action Items And Six Themes For Providers On Nov. 6, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued the General Compliance Program Guidance (GCPG) for healthcare providers and other industry stakeholders. The GCPG follows an earlier announcement by OIG regarding a modernization initiative and signifies a major update to OIG's prior approach for providing guidance on effective compliance programs, which focused on sector-specific compliance program guidance issued between 1998 and 2008. OIG intends for members of the healthcare sector to use the GCPG for purposes of creating and maintaining an appropriate compliance program. Click the link below to read the full story.

Does anyone have inside info on what's going on in Utah? They have a proposed rule out for comment (due 12/15/23), R380. Health and Human Services, Administration. R380-70. Standards for Electronic Exchange of Clinical Health Information, that removes the current standards X12 and NCPDP from the allowed transaction standards between providers and payers and instead requires HL7 v2, C-CDA, and FHIR. While it indicates that the standards must be used to exchange clinical health data, that term is defined as:  data gathered on patients regarding episodes of clinical health care. So it seems like, Utah is saying that eligibility, claims, ERAs, auths, etc. will all have to be transacted in HL7 or FHIR. We're befuddled on why they would be making this change, since HIPAA simplification requires X12. And why in the world would they be knocking out NCPDP? Any info folks have would be appreciated. We're sharpening our pencils to get our comments in. Proposed rule link: https://lnkd.in/g48hAVdy.

"Our stance is that states should leverage the hard work and financial investment already completed by the federal government by promoting participation in #TEFCA. Doing so would save the time, resources, and costs necessary to establish a state-specific HDU or HIE model." Ultimately, leveraging TEFCA and promoting its widespread adoption offers states a cost-effective, efficient, and scalable solution for health information exchange – one that aligns with national standards and decreases the necessity for state-specific infrastructure that could lead to higher costs and more complex maintenance requirements.

The 21st Century Cures Act advocates for the delivery of greater #interoperability and promotes the adoption of electronic health records (#EHRs). Initiated out of this Act was the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). In this #blog post, we explore the purpose of TEFCA and QHINs — and how they can help the industry achieve greater interoperability and improved outcomes: https://bit.ly/3xcc1Mq