Home

Leading Hospital CEO Addresses Data Interoperability

February 25, 2020
11:51 am

Massive amounts of healthcare data are collected across the nation, and as technology advances the question of how to use it has continued to be a discussion.  There have been hearings on Capitol Hill about interoperability and data privacy and security, and the Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC) recently hosted a congressional briefing on the subject of health data.  The resources of the private sector have been focused on utilizing data for innovation in the treatment of patients.  There has been open dialogue between healthcare organizations and government agencies regarding the best way to approach regulations surrounding the use of health data.  Joseph Impicciche, the president and CEO of Ascension, in his Morning Consult op-ed supports proposed rules by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on advancing nationwide interoperability and encourages additional work be done to ensure continuous improvement in patient outcomes.

HHS Policies to Promote Secure Exchange of Data Will Lead to Better Health Care

By Joseph Impicciche February 10, 2020

Health care is undergoing dramatic transformation, and the entities accountable for delivering compassionate care to patients are being challenged to meet these new and evolving needs. The dimensions of this transformation are deep and wide, and the complexities of providing care extend far beyond those traditionally involved in managing patients’ health and wellness.

Health care providers are focused on the same goal: improving health and health care for patients and consumers. This requires coordination across an expanding number of constituencies who must have access to greater clinical insight, leveraged to accelerate the delivery of novel care models and therapies. Essential to these requirements is access to robust clinical datasets and tools that facilitate real-time clinical workflow integration so that comprehensive care coordination is available to and benefits all those we serve, while maintaining patient data privacy and security.

With the future of health care dependent on the ability to make data-driven decisions, we applaud the Department of Health and Human Services’ continuous efforts and leadership through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on advancing nationwide interoperability. The proposed new policies have the potential to take an important next step in granting consumers seamless and secure access to data and increase the vehicles for the exchange of electronic health information across providers and systems. They should be used as the starting point for further discussions and potentially thoughtful modification, led by the spectrum of stakeholders involved in the delivery and receipt of care.

Every day, providers, patients and consumers find themselves trying to piece together the health information they need from siloed systems across the care delivery continuum. Within each of these systems, information is entombed in proprietary data models that effectively create dependency on a single electronic health record vendor’s platform.

Exchanging health information from disparate platforms has proven cumbersome. It can be difficult to positively confirm a patient’s identity, as no unique national identifier exists. And even when records can be accurately matched, the scope of data exchanged is often limited and not fully supportive of integrated care delivery across the continuum.

It recently has been suggested that these gaps are not significant impediments to the delivery of coordinated, whole-person care. Some argue that closing these gaps will create unsupportable fiscal and administrative burdens for health systems and providers, as well as untenable privacy and security risks for patients and consumers.

New policies must acknowledge and seek to ease the cost and administrative burden on providers; appropriate timelines should be afforded, and privacy and security risks should be mitigated. However, a properly considered rule should ultimately be finalized because of the overall benefit it will provide to patients and providers alike. We believe the cost of doing nothing is too high; the persistence of current approaches will not be economically sustainable and will not support the more sophisticated approaches to privacy and security that will be required to adequately serve patients, consumers and providers across the continuum.

Today, after incredible focus and expenditure by federal agencies and tireless work at technology adoption by numerous stakeholder groups, we’re still very far from realizing our shared goal: a robust, standards-based, cloud-enabled health care information architecture that will support broad health care data interoperability and benefit patients across the continuum of care.

The failure is multidimensional and includes the lack of common data model implementation at scale, the lack of a national health care information identifier at the individual level, and the absence of a meaningful scope of application program interfaces across health care technology platforms — both legacy and newly emerging platforms outside the traditional health care ecosystem.

The solution lies in applying new technologies — some developed in other industries — to accelerate the democratization of commoditized health care data housed in modern cloud-based architectures. Accordingly, we applaud the work of HHS, ONC and CMS in tackling what is admittedly a complex issue. They are seeking to develop a forward-looking policy that drives common health care data model development, supports accelerated development of APIs and promotes the development of software applications that support provider, patient and consumer choice in health care technology to enable true multiparty health care process integration.

Without a doubt, the pursuit of democratized health care information must be approached carefully and in parallel to the evolution of more sophisticated privacy and security frameworks. Multi-stakeholder input will be required to ensure that next-generation privacy and security policies account for the technological capabilities, increasing cybersecurity threats and greatly expanded scope of health care constituencies that now exist.

Recognition of the importance of these capabilities is not new. Foundational support for their achievement rests with a sweeping series of federal legislation enacted over the last 20 years, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Health Information Technology for Economics and Clinical Health Act, the Affordable Care Act and others. The broad goal underpinning each of these policies was to create the framework necessary for the efficient and effective creation, distribution and utilization of digital health care information to benefit patients.

The work to build on these foundational policies must continue. HHS’ proposed rule warrants careful consideration and thoughtful modification to minimize burden, ensure data privacy and security and provide appropriate time for implementation. With such changes, HHS’ new rules will help advance the progression toward a framework that allows data to be optimally available to improve patient care while providing robust privacy protections and data security.

 

Joseph R. Impicciche, JD, MHA, is president and chief executive officer of Ascension.

National Obesity Care Week: Behind the Scenes of Obesity

September 19, 2019
4:19 pm

September 16-20 is National Obesity Care Week (NOCW).  NOCW is a source for science-based information on obesity.  More than 93 million Americans are affected by obesity, with an estimated cost of $480 billion to the healthcare system.  The Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC) has joined as a partner of NOCW, advancing our conviction that people who struggle with obesity deserve access to quality care and must be treated with dignity and respect.

Recently, HLC has been focused on how the healthcare system can utilize research on social determinants of health so that essential socioeconomic and environmental factors can be considered and addressed in addition to one’s clinical care.  At the beginning of this week, HLC hosted a Hill briefing that had an expert panel present on reducing disparities in health.  While this particular briefing looked at the whole patient from a pediatric and senior perspective rather than zeroing in on obesity, there is a strong relationship between obesity and low socioeconomic status that cannot be ignored.

Many HLC members have recognized the need to reach out and invest in the well-being of surrounding communities:

  • BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has taken many avenues to encourage healthy lifestyles of Tennesseans, such as revitalizing neighborhoods with parks, and repaving the roads with bike lanes.
  • The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation provided resources to establish one of New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive children’s hospitals which includes a clinical center of excellence dedicated to the study and treat childhood obesity.
  • Fairview Health System launched a new 24-week Healthy Lifestyle Plan that combines evidence-based weight loss strategies with one-on-one lifestyle coaching.  This approach can address medical issues that make it hard for someone to lose weight on their own, such as hormone levels, the side effects of prescription drugs, or chronic conditions like sleep apnea.
  • Teladoc Health has invested in a personalized virtual care platform for physical and behavioral health, addressing the root of the problem for chronic disease with digital therapeutic interventions and sustainable behavioral change.

It is promising that across the healthcare spectrum there have been a variety of solutions offered to address obesity, but much progress must still be achieved to make a lasting impact on the health of millions of Americans.  Many people do not know that obesity is a disease, and education is the just the first step to achieving NOCW’s goal of access to comprehensive obesity care.  More voices are needed to enact change.  Additional information about ways to take action is available on ObesityCareWeek.org/ACTION.

Importing Prescription Drugs Will Create More Problems than it Solves

September 11, 2019
12:03 pm

Several years ago, there was a significant push in Congress to allow wholesale importation of prescription drugs from other countries into the United States.  The Healthcare Leadership Council found itself in an opportune position to examine this idea, given that our membership includes not only pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare payers, but also the companies that would facilitate the distribution of these imported products.

We found that the promised cost savings from importation were an illusion.  When shipping, relabeling, storage, liability coverage and other costs were factored into the mix, the cost differential between medicines in this country and those from countries that employ government price controls was largely erased.  It has never been surprising that HHS Secretaries and FDA Commissioners from both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations over the years have attested that the risks connected with drug importation far exceeded any possible rewards.

But now the issue is back in a big way.  States – including Vermont, Colorado, and Florida – have passed legislation to set up their own drug importation programs, pending federal government approval, and the current administration has indicated a willingness to work with them in making this happen.  Also, Congress is once again considering importation legislation. This is troubling.

The only difference between the drug importation issue today and when we first examined it is that the dangers have exacerbated while the benefits have not.  There are certain facts that policymakers should keep in mind when contemplating the prospects of opening our borders to drugs from outside the U.S.

  • We already have a drug crisis in this country, much of it fueled by the proliferation of lethal fentanyl that is originating in other countries and finding its way here through our ports and via the international mail service.
  • The world is facing an enormous health challenge driven by the increase in counterfeit drugs. The World Health Organization has estimated that one in every 10 pharmaceutical products in low- and middle-income countries is falsified or substandard.  Opening our borders increases our exposure to this danger.
  • Since we first examined this issue, there has been an explosion in the number of online pharmacies.  According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, there are over 35,000 online drug sellers and 96 percent of them are in violation of applicable laws.  Many of these operations are based in Canada, the nation often cited as the safe place from which to import drugs.
  • And just to dispense with the notion that importing drugs from Canada will drastically lower prices, the numbers simply don’t work.  Canada’s population is barely more than one-tenth that of the United States and our neighbors to the north have already been enduring problems with drug shortages.  The idea that Canada can provide a sufficient supply of prescription medications to meet American demands is ludicrous.

By all means, we should be having a national conversation on healthcare affordability and accessibility in the United States, seeking solutions that will ensure patients have access to the treatments they need while also maintaining an environment that incentivizes lifesaving medical innovation.  A serious discussion requires credible ideas, though, and drug importation doesn’t fit that bill.

Much to Applaud as Health Exchange Open Enrollment Season Begins

October 31, 2018
12:45 pm

The open enrollment season for the federal health insurance exchange begins tomorrow, November 1, and runs through December 15 for coverage that will become effective at the start of 2019.  Consumers will notice some significant improvements this year when they begin the process of selecting a health plan.

The most important of these is price.  Average premiums, as measured by the second-lowest-cost silver plans, will drop for the first time since the exchanges began in 2014.  The average 1.5 percent price reduction is a striking change from the average double-digit increases that have been seen in recent years and tells us that steps taken to stabilize the marketplace have had a positive effect.

I want to also credit Seema Verma and her team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for some important changes that have been made on the healthcare.gov website to assist consumers in finding the right health plan to fit their needs.

Among those changes are an improved interface (based on consumer input), an enhanced tool to help users search for local agents and brokers who can assist them in selecting and enrolling in a plan, and a “window shopping” function that allowed consumers to browse plans and prices even before open season began and without having to fill out an application.

Improvements like these are making the health insurance exchanges more of a consumer-focused system and the reduction in average premium prices is welcome news indeed for those of us who want to see the competitive marketplace succeed

Medicare Part D Facts Keep Getting in the Way of Politics

August 10, 2018
11:56 am
It’s campaign season, so that means we’re seeing an escalation in the number of politicians who insist that the federal government must involve itself in “negotiating” prices for the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.  (I put negotiating in quotations because it’s a misnomer to suggest that government negotiates in the understood sense of the world.  It is closer to reality to say that the feds set prices.)
The problem with this assertion regarding Medicare Part D is that the facts keep getting in the way.
Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that average monthly premiums for Part D plans are expected to drop from $33.59 in 2018 to $32.50 in 2019.  This is the second consecutive year in which average premiums will have declined and follows several previous years in which premium levels remained relatively flat.   In other words, the inference that urgent action is needed to fundamentally change the Medicare Part D structure isn’t supported by any evidence that consumers are being harmed by the status quo.
In fact, the approach employed when Congress created the Medicare prescription drug program just over a decade ago remains just as viable today.  The best way to maintain affordability is to empower consumers to select from several competing drug plans on the basis of value.  Part D enrollees will naturally gravitate to the plans that cover the drugs their physicians prescribe and do so at affordable cost.
That’s not to say there aren’t actions that need to be taken regarding Part D.  For example, Congress needs to act expeditiously to address the “out of pocket cliff,” the forthcoming change in the out-of-pocket spending threshold that must be met in order to qualify for catastrophic coverage.  If not address, this “cliff” will cost beneficiaries several hundred dollars that many can’t afford.
On the whole, though, when politicians tell you this political season that we need a heavier government hand in Medicare Part D pricing, please be aware that the numbers don’t back up that claim.