CHIME, which represents 1,700 hospital chief information officers and other health IT executives, is urging the Chronic Care Working Group of the Senate Committee on Finance to tackle policies that will enable better healthcare for chronically ill patients.
In a Jan. 26 letter, signed by CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell and CHIME Board Chair Marc Probst, CIO at Intermountain Healthcare, the organization calls for removing existing policy barriers, facilitating interoperability across the care continuum, strengthening telehealth reimbursement policies under Medicare and fostering quality measurement policies that enable delivery system reform.
The letter is addressed to the Senate committee's chair, Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; along with ranking members Ron Wyden, D-Oregon; Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia, and Mark Warner, D-Virginia.
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In focusing on removing barriers to boosting chronic care, CHIME stressed that flexibility in the resource and reimbursement options available to healthcare providers would be critical as the nation begins to adopt new payment and delivery models.
CHIME also spotlighted the imperative for interoperability, urging the committee to pursue policies to boost the secure exchange of health data. Interoperability would make it easier to create a longitudinal health record, it argues, which, in turn, would enable better decision making for both patients and providers.
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CHIME urged the committee to leverage the meaningful use EHR Incentive Programs as a way to ensure providers have systems that are capable of exchanging data.
On the telehealth front, CHIME urged the committee to address cross-state licensure issues, which often pose legal barriers.
Federal telehealth policies lag, the letter said, and called on the committee to bolster telehealth policies under Medicare.
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