The Week Ahead in Health IT Interoperability: Sept. 14-20
- The last official week of summer brings a cooled-down outlook in health IT interoperability in the area of accountable care organizations (ACOs). Also noteworthy this week: a new big-data initiative targeted at cancer treatment, “home-stretch” ICD-10 materials, and expert perspective on legal and strategic issues for health information exchanges (HIEs).
ACOs ring up a deficit. A report from Kaiser Health News (KHN), published Sept. 14, reveals that patients at 45 percent of participating Medicare ACOs racked up higher costs in 2014 than the government had projected based on historical figures. Although some ACOs qualified for bonuses by reducing use of hospitals and other costly resources, the overall federal ACO program incurred a net loss of nearly $3 million to the Medicare trust fund, according to the report. “It’s turning out to be tougher to transform care and realign delivery than people had expected,” Eric Cragun, an analyst with The Advisory Board Company, a Washington-based consulting group, told KHN. A spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pointed out that most ACOs are still in their formative stages; the agency expects performance to improve with participants’ experience, ultimately saving significant sums for Medicare while improving care for beneficiaries.
Big data takes on cancer treatment. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will hold a Sept. 15 briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss how a lack of health IT interoperability is a public health concern. ASCO will introduce a big data initiative aimed at improving cancer treatment. “The system will unlock real-world patient care data from electronic health records, and securely process and analyze the data to provide immediate quality feedback and guidance for physicians,” according to a preview statement from ASCO. The event will take place from 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Click here to sign up for a live webcast and check the HealthITInteroperability.com newsfeed later this week for a recap.
Countdown to ICD-10 materials available. With only two-and-a-half weeks left before the Oct. 1 ICD-10 transition deadline, CMS continues to make preparation and implementation resources available. New to the mix: a written transcript from the Medicare Learning Network’s Aug. 27 National Provider Call. The presentation includes an ICD-10 coding overview with examples from the American Health Information Management Association and American Hospital Association, and a recap of joint guidance from CMS and the American Medical Association on coding flexibility during the first 12 months after implementation of ICD-10. The session also includes specific ICD-10 questions from providers, answered by the presentation panel.
HIE issues analyzed. This week’s content on HealthITInteroperability.com will include a one-on-one interview with Eric Thieme, who leads the health information technology practice at law firm Faegre Baker Daniels in Indianapolis. Prior to assuming his current role, Thieme worked for over five years at the Indiana Health Information Exchange, the nation’s largest HIE, where his responsibilities included legal affairs, compliance, corporate governance, privacy and security, and strategic partnerships. He also oversaw the selection of a cloud-based data center vendor that provided outsourced services to secure a database containing over 8 million records. He’ll share his views on legal and strategic issues for current HIEs and participating organizations.
