HHS Secretary Alex Azar updated Conference attendees on developments concerning the coronavirus. He spoke at length about the progress being made to efficiently get the right data with the right information to patients and providers in the health IT and digital health field. He noted the progress being made along with his concerns at the Academy Health National Health Policy Conference co-located with Health Datapalooza held February 10-11, 2020 in Washington D.C.
The Secretary reports that HHS and the Administration are working as quickly as possible on the many unanswered questions about the virus to find out how rapidly the virus can spread, how deadly the virus is, and whether the virus is commonly transmitted by patients who are not yet displaying symptoms.
As he reports, “Today, scientists and public health experts are trying to learn more about the virus using data coming from China. State and local public health departments are working with CDC to follow the playbook for an infectious disease response.”
FDA has issued an emergency use authorization for the diagnostic test rapidly developed by the CDC. These test kits are now available for order by U.S state and local public health laboratories. DOD laboratories, and select international laboratories.
As for other matters concerning the effective use of data related to health and medical care. Secretary Azar told the Conference attendees, “Health IT, digital health, and greater utilization of data are absolutely key to this administration’s healthcare agenda. We are determined that this administration will look back as a turning point for health IT, but also for the much broader mission of putting patients at the center of American healthcare.”
The digitization of health records has created the potential for a whole ecosystem of applications and innovations that will put the patient at the center and at the same time, be able to empower providers with the right information.
The Secretary said, “The development of smartphones, apps, cloud-based storage and computing power, along with near universal access to high speed internet has completely changed so many aspects of American lives, but unfortunately, not so much in the medical and healthcare fields. These technological advances have made the promise of digital health even more tantalizing. If digital records are able to work effectively, then patients and providers could truly be in control.”
The Secretary mentioned that last year, HHS proposed bold interoperability rules for the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) https://www.healthit.gov. Most importantly, patients should be able to access their EMRs at no cost and providers should be able to use IT tools that enable them to provide the best care for patients, without excessive costs or technical barriers.
Seamless health IT systems and patient’s use of smartphone apps, holds a huge potential for delivering affordability and quality by providing price transparency. He mentioned that starting January 2021, hospitals will be required to make available their actual prices and the prices that they are willing to accept from patients paying cash. It has also been proposed to require that insurers make public the prices that they negotiate with providers, and what the patients’ cost-sharing will be on a given plan.
The goal is have the data seamlessly integrated with patients’ clinical information so you can be aware of what services you are receiving and how much you are paying for them—all in the same place.
Health records and cost aren’t the only key pieces of information for patients. Quality information is essential too. That is why the President’s Executive Order asks HHS to work with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs on a roadmap to report on the thousands of quality measures of importance to patients, providers, and researchers.
As the Secretary mentioned, Last fall, HHS launched a new data initiative as part of “ReImagine HHS”. The goal of the initiative which is, currently called the “Data Insights Initiative”, is to make HHS’s data resources accessible in just one place. HHS staff would have access to a kind of one-stop shop where they can access and analyze HHS data assets faster, easier, and more securely.
One problem that this initiative is going to help solve involves HHS’s response to the opioid crisis. The data needed includes overdose deaths, emergency department visits, and the number of providers offering medication-assisted treatments.
However, this data comes from huge and diverse sources such as state and local health departments and other federal agencies. By developing and using the “Data Insights Initiative”, all of the data will be accessible to HHS strategic planners to enable the data sets to be easily analyzed and visualized. In time, HHS will be able to work with partners outside of HHS.
The Secretary summed up by saying, “The role of government in healthcare is not to act as a heavy handed intervener, but as an enabler and catalyst for private sector innovation and competition.”
Go to https://www.academyhealth.org/events/2020-02/2020-health-datapalooza for more information on the Conference.