NJ HIMSS Delegation Joins National HIT Advocacy on Capitol Hill
Taking a pre-dawn bus to Washington, DC, Wednesday, September 24, 2009 as part of contingent of more than 40 New Jersey HIMSS chapter members with several colleagues from the Delaware Valley chapter, we joined HIMSS members from across the country visiting senators, Congressmen and their staffs.
Requesting three major initiatives (known as “Asks” on the Hill), New Jersey members visited personally with Congressmen Leonard Lance and Steve Rothman in their respective offices, and Lance’s legislative assistant Jeffrey Last, as well as a member of Congressman’s Frank Pallone’s staff and aides in other Congressional offices. On the Senate side, NJ delegations of more than 20 met with Senator Robert Menendez’s legislative correspondent Chasseny Lewis and Senator Frank Lautenberg’s legislative assistant Apryl Clark.
The “Asks”
Per quidelines supplied by HIMSS Legislative Affairs leaders–
“1. Ensure that the Executive Branch meets the timelines, requirements, and the needs of your Congressional constituents for the health information technology (IT) components included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
2. Require the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct a study concerning the necessary funding needed to achieve the nationwide exchange of health information among health information exchanges (HIEs).
3. Apply Congressional oversight authority to ensure that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) establishes a final regulation for the e-prescribing of controlled substances that would not impede the overall benefits of e-prescribing.
To view all HIMSS position statements and legislative analyses, please visit the HIMSS website at: http://www.himss.org/advocacy ”
The Offers
Led by NJ HIMSS chapter president Richard Temple, CIO of AristaCare, members offered their personal and chapter services
1. to answer future questions about HITECH and healthcare IT issues and challenges, as well as
2. to offer forums for NJ members of Congress and their staffs to learn more about the IT issues facing hospitals, physicians, patients, healthcare and IT professionals.
One Congressional staffer was surprised and pleased to hear we were offering help and not just asking.
For New Jersey the Advocacy Day event was organized by Advocacy chair Indranil (Neal) Ganguly, CIO of CentraState and Events chair and bus chaperone Tony Ferrante, Director, Business Development for Computer Design and Integration. And no one was left behind.
The HITECH Process
This writer, along with colleagues from NJ HIMSS note their appreciation for the passage of the HITECH Act with generally high expectations for its impact on patients and healthcare. The complex process led by National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal, his fellow ONC staffers and advisors, and the public and private members of the HIT Policy and Standard Committees, along with HITSP volunteers, has demonstrated to this writer remarkable momentum, transparency, and agility including responsiveness to a great deal of public feedback. CCHIT has also moved rapidly to adjust to the new certification environment.
One observes a powerful force unleashed in 2009 after a decade or two of these healthcare leaders and experts working on their own and with each other to develop better ways to support patient care with healthcare IT, and building on a underfunded but critical structure developed under the previous administration. New Jersey and all other states and territories are increasingly focusing on in-state and local activities (Health Information Exchanges and Regional Extension Centers) under the guidance of ONC to move this process to the individual healthcare provider and patient.
The Learning
When the NJ bus arrived mid-morning Sept 23, 2009, to HIMSS 8th Annual Policy Summit at the Renaissance Washington, DC Hotel, we were fortunate to hear a very adept policy update from a member of the HIT Policy Committee, Gayle Harrell, Member of the Florida House of Representatives (2000-08). We look forward to the online posting of her presentation.
Come join our cause to change some business practices and activities of the HMO’s in NJ which include technological initiatives such as smart ID cards and standard electronic contracting/credentialing.
Visit our website, http://www.njmgma.com, and see what we and our affiliate groups have proposed.
Larry Epstein
Since IT can track symptoms…symptoms=performance…perhaps it wise to consider abandoning the ludicrous approach of capitated contracts in CMS – which are not fiscally reviewed in the public health system.
Capitated contracts were once thought to be non-reviewable because:
1. the technology did not exist to review cases cheaply – it does now.
2. it was believed capitated contracts were inherently cost saving – underutilization/overutilization have both proven to increase the healthcare cost curve.
The “fat” in healthcare is not in the administration per se. It is in the cost of service. Presently the provider community sells “volume of care” not “performance of care”.
Aside from supplying broadband the HIT industry has the opportunity to improve care and decrease cost by a P4P approach.