On May 29, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a report to the President on a comprehensive set of actions to lower healthcare costs and provide better care across the Nation.  Among the list of actions, the PCAST recommends initiatives to the accelerate the development of the U.S. health-data infrastructure, accelerate the transition to payment models that pay for value rather than volume, and provide technical assistance to healthcare providers in applying systems methods. The authors acknowledge that health IT will play a critical role in the healthcare system-improvement efforts and support the continuing development of health IT initiatives.

ONC Announces Restructure Focused on Agency’s Core Priorities

On May 30, Dr. Karen DeSalvo, National Coordinator for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), announced a reorganization of  ONC’s reporting structure to address upcoming health IT challenges. As the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) funding expires soon, ONC will take on a “flatter and more accountable reporting structure” to help the agency focus on core priorities. The new reporting structure reduces ONC’s 17 offices to 10. For a list of all the new offices and ONC’s core priorities, click here.

Open FDA Initiative Improves Data Accessibility

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently launched the OpenFDA Initiative, which aims to make it easier for developers, researchers, and the public to access large health data sets collected by the agency. OpenFDA offers data in structured, machine-readable formats as well as a search-based application programming interface (API) which developers can use to create apps and tools that can query the datasets. The first dataset made available through the initiative includes more than 3 million reports of adverse drug events and medication errors since 2004.

FTC Calls for Regulation of Data Brokers

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a new report calling on Congress to act to more carefully regulate data brokers, organizations which collect and sell vast amounts of consumer data. Based on practices of nine brokers described in the report, the FTC is concerned that the data is being used without consumer knowledge and could potentially be used to harm consumers by making sensitive inferences about characteristics like health and wellness. The report asks Congress to consider legislation which increases transparency and accountability among brokers by obtaining consumer consent, allowing consumers to access their data, and more clearly defining how the data will be used.

20 U.S. Health Care Systems to Participate in ACO Metrics Project

Essentia Health has joined 19 other health care systems in the United States that are taking part in a new pilot project for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recently announced the project which “examines the ability of ACOs to calculate and report quality results and how well current metrics work”. Read the article HERE.

2 Ohio Providers Among First to Adopt HIE Service to Increase Data Exchange

2 Dayton, Ohio providers, Kettering Health Network and The Premier Health Network are among the first in the region to use a new service for “sharing electronic medical records between health care providers”. The new service, from HealthBridge, a Health Information Exchange (HIE), lets “hospitals, physician offices and others instantaneously share a summary of patient’s health record, including diagnoses, medications, tests, and procedures”. Read the article HERE.

Member Spotlight

Highlights from Sam Ho’s Speech at the National Forum on Data and Analytics

Dr. Sam Ho, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, United Healthcare, and Chairman of eHI’s Board of Directors, was one of the featured speakers at last month’s National Forum on Data & Analytics in Healthcare. Some of the highlights from his keynote address are as follows: