The co-chairs of the CHIME Opioid Task Force outline how health IT can be used to help address the opioid crisis in a commentary published in Modern Healthcare.
Healthcare Info Security talked with Leslie Krigstein, CHIME’s vice president of congressional affairs, about the passage of a House amendment to remove a 20-year ban on funding for a unique patient identification strategy. CHIME members have long seen the ban as a barrier to quality patient care.
No CIO wants to be caught flat-footed when the CEO asks, “What does this policy mean for us?” CHIME Policy Steering Committee Vice Chair Liz Johnson offers guidance on how to stay informed and shape public policy in a column in healthsystemCIO.com.
Just in time for the start of hurricane season, Health Data Management published a Q&A with George Carion, chief technology officer at Cedars-Sinai Health System. Cedars-Sinai was named a top 10 Most Wired recipient in 2018 and received a special shout-out for their disaster recovery program.
“Lead or be led. When offered that option, most healthcare executives would choose the first, especially if the entity doing the leading is the government.” So write CHIME’s two public policy vice presidents, Leslie Krigstein and Mari Savickis, in a commentary in healthsystemCIO.com.
CHIME President and CEO Russ Branzell discusses big data, international collaborations and more in a podcast from the Big Data TLV in Healthcare Conference in Israel.
CHIME Innovation Executive Director Jonathan Fritz and CHIME members Myra Davis and Cara Babachicos participated in a webinar on innovation hosted healthsystemCIO.com. The webinar is available here.
The CHIME Opioid Task Force published an eight-chapter playbook to help CIOs and healthcare organizations use IT-based approaches to curb the opioid epidemic. Health Data Management reported on its availability here.
Liz Johnson, vice chair the CHIME Public Policy Steering Committee, shared members’ concerns about cyber risks linked to the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) in a congressional briefing in Washington, D.C. “We want to do this, but have got to get some certification in place,” Politico quoted her as saying. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT are encouraging the use of APIs to promote interoperability.
HealthLeaders cited a CHIME-KLAS cybersecurity report and quoted CHIME President and CEO Russ Branzell in an article on ways to make clinicians aware of cyberthreats.
Modern Healthcare cited to a letter that CHIME submitted to CMS and ONC recommending the agencies publish two interim final rules.
Politico quoted Mari Savickis, CHIME’s vice president, federal affairs, about the possible passage of bills that affect meaningful use and telehealth. “We are extremely supportive and have championed each,” she said. Politico and FierceHealthcare also cited CHIME’s letters to the FDA on clinical decision support software.
Politico, Becker’s Hospital Review, HealthcareInformatics called out CHIME’s recommendation to the FCC to consider doubling funding for rural healthcare and to focus on areas affected by the opioid epidemic on Feb. 6. CHIME sent a comment letter to the FCC on Feb. 2.
FierceHealthcare reported on the inaugural meeting of the CHIME Opioid Task Force in an article published on Feb. 1. The article cited co-chair Jim Turnbull: “We need to empower and assist the healthcare community and help them see that there are pathways to success. …CHIME members have the data and skills to illuminate what has worked and what hasn’t.” HealthITAnalytics, Healthcare Informatics and Becker’s Health IT and CIO Review also published articles about the initiative.
About a dozen publications reported on Randy McCleese being named CIO of the Year, an award given jointly by CHIME and HIMSS. A few select links here, here and here.
Politico spoke with CHIME Board Chair Cletis Earle about an information blocking tool designed to protect patients. The article was published on Jan. 12.
Associations Now featured CHIME Innovator of the Year Award winner Fernando Martinez in an article on the Texas Hospital Association’s “Smart Ribbon” analytic dashboard. The Jan. 12 feature cited CHIME, noting that “the healthcare industry has taken notice of the idea’s potential.”
Politico highlighted CHIME’s concerns in comments sent to CMS about the Quality Payment Program. “Among other complaints – alternative payment models too complicated, clinical measures too byzantine – one that caught our eye concerned data blocking and the agency’s requirement that providers attest that they aren’t engaging in the practice: the authors are concerned about Direct addresses,” they wrote on Jan. 3.
Modern Healthcare noted challenges reiterated by CHIME about the use of 2015 certified EHRs under the Quality Payment Program in an article published on Dec. 30. CMS decided to not penalize clinicians who stay with the 2014 edition in 2018 but the agency will pay bonuses only to those who use the 2015 edition.
Healthcare IT News cited results from a telehealth survey conducted by CHIME and KLAS and quoted CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell in a Dec. 27 article about Geisinger’s telehealth program.
Leslie Krigstein, CHIME’s vice president of congressional affairs, pointed out that the Meaningful Use program is still in place in a Modern Healthcare article on delayed requirements for using 2015 certified EHR technology. The article was published on Dec. 26.
HealthsystemCIO.com managing editor Kate Gamble, in a Dec. 7 column that explores the need to honor women in healthcare IT, shares her experiences as an attendee at Women of CHIME events at the 2017 CHIME CIO Fall Forum. “I walked away with several new contacts, as well as a renewed appreciation for those who paved the way, and a resolve to help smooth the road for future leaders,” she wrote.