Healthcare Policy News

IHS Announces Plans for EHR Modernization Project, Interoperability

The government agency said its homegrown EHR has served it well for decades, but as health tech evolves, interoperability needs point to EHR modernization.

IHS will undergo an EHR modernization project for interoperability

Source: Getty Images

By Sara Heath

- Pinch-hitting for Kyle today as the Indian Health Services outlines its plans for an EHR modernization project it says will support interoperability in an advancing health IT landscape. The address came at the ONC annual meeting and acknowledged the benefits the HIS homegrown solution offered for decades, but noted an off-the-shelf product will serve it well moving forward.

Test Result Video Summaries Improve Patient Health Literacy

New data out of NYU Langone found that giving video summaries of radiology test results can improve patient health literacy and understanding of imaging. The videos are less than a minute long and only add about four minutes to radiologist workloads, the researchers said, making these a feasible addition to the patient experience. “For decades radiologists have provided traditional radiology reports that are full of medical jargon and extremely difficult for patients to understand and decipher,” the lead author of the study, Michael P. Recht, MD, the Louis Marx Professor of Radiology and chair of the Department of Radiology at NYU Langone Health, said in a statement. “Our findings demonstrate that when radiologists take a more active role in patient-centered care and provide helpful information about a particular diagnosis in an easy-to-comprehend manner, both the patient and clinician benefit.” READ MORE.

Medical Debt Missteps Chief Complaint for Consumers

Americans continued to face medical debt challenges, with consumers reporting instances of debt collectors attempting to collect medical debt that was already paid or does not belong to them, according to data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Nearly a third of medical debt collection complaints were about receiving written notification about debt. Consumers frequently reported that they did not recognize the company sending them collection notices or the notices did not contain sufficient information to verify the alleged debt. Consumers also stated that collection notices often included personal medical information that they felt violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), such as detailed bills listing procedures, tests, and medications. READ MORE.

IHS Opts for Private EHR Solution to Boost Interoperability

The Indian Health Service (IHS) has begun a multi-year health IT modernization initiative to replace its homegrown EHR platform with a private vendor solution. At the 2022 virtual ONC annual meeting on April 13, Howard Hayes, MD, chief medical information officer for IHS, discussed the agency's impetus for its health IT modernization effort. "Even though the RPMS EHR is a certified system and has remained a certified system since the beginning of the meaningful use era, the continuously evolving technology and regulatory environment is increasingly challenging," Hayes said. "The IHS is a healthcare organization. We're not by nature a development shop." READ MORE.

HHS Investing in Data to Better Understanding Health Disparities

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the availability of $90 million from the American Rescue Plan to fund data-driven efforts by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-supported health centers to address health disparities. “Health centers are vital to increasing equitable access to primary healthcare,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra in the press release. “The Biden-Harris Administration has made historic investments in health centers, and this funding from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan will further enable health centers to utilize data to meet the needs of their community and help reduce gaps in care.” READ MORE.

Thermo Fisher Opens Utah Facility for Biologics and Vaccines

READ MORE: Feds Talk Health Equity, GE introduces Digital Health Platform at HIMSS22

Thermo Fisher recently launched a single-use technology bioprocessing site in Utah to create additional capacity to produce high-quality technology and materials needed to develop new vaccines and breakthrough biologics. The $44 million facility is part of the company's $650 million multi-year investment to help ensure flexible, scalable, and reliable bioprocessing production capacity for critical materials used in developing new and existing biologics and vaccines, including for COVID-19. "The Ogden facility further strengthens our global manufacturing network, which has been growing to meet the increasing demand for single-use consumables and critical raw materials," Mitch Kennedy, president of single-use technologies at Thermo Fisher, said in the announcement. "This new facility expands our presence in Utah and locating here gives us the ability to work closely with our Logan site, providing access to a talented workforce that is ideal for manufacturing the highly complex and customized solutions we provide our customers.” READ MORE.

Health Payers Making Moves on Social Determinants of Health

Payers, providers, and policymakers have taken a variety of approaches to social determinants of health data collection and interventions, according to an issue brief from Humana. The brief provided an overview of the policymaking landscape surrounding social determinants of health data collection. Particularly, the report outlined both public and private payer efforts to screen for SDOH, standardize that data, and conduct SDOH referrals. READ MORE.

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