Another foolish CMS mandate results in a 15-20 billion dollar debacle.....Much time and effort and capital wasted for a meaningless mandate
MEANINGFUL USE IS DEAD !!
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Meaningful Use is Dead !
Andy Slavitt puts meaningful use on ice; Read his J.P. Morgan speech transcript | Healthcare IT News
Another foolish CMS mandate results in a 15-20 billion dollar debacle.....Much time and effort and capital wasted for a meaningless mandate
MEANINGFUL USE IS DEAD !!
Another foolish CMS mandate results in a 15-20 billion dollar debacle.....Much time and effort and capital wasted for a meaningless mandate
MEANINGFUL USE IS DEAD !!
Meaningful Use Is Going to Be Replaced – #JPM16 | EMR and HIPAA
Meaningful use is facing strong resistance from providers.
Despite graphic presentations such as this one:
During 2015, over 200,000 doctor's flatly rejected MU II for any number of reasons, indicating one year ago they had no plan to be able to accomplish that federal mandate due to cost, lack of vendor support, or outright rejection of the federal mandate's effort to collect 'big data' for analysis. (JP Morgan annual healthcare conference in San Francisco.)
Even prior to this John Lynn (The HIT Consultant) had a plan to blow up Meaningful Use.
"If you live, work, touch healthcare IT, then your world has been dominated for the past 3-5 years with something called Meaningful Use. The concept is a good one. The government gave $36 billion of "shovel ready" (Sorry, I just love the irony of the shovel ready stimulus being only half spent 5 years later) stimulus money for Electronic Health Records (EHR) and wanted to make sure that doctors would actually be "meaningful users" of the EHR software. Where this falls apart is that much of meaningful or that many of the meaning has already been achieved."
Among the current 'buzz words' this decade are big data, analytics, predictive modelling, mobile health, telemedicine, algorithms and more.. The feds ambition to employ more statisticians and/or keep CMS and/or their contractors occupied has been judged by providers to be a well intended goal, which should be overidden by common sense. effort. Meaningful use has no relationship to quality of care, nor the functionality of the electronic health record.
Figures such as $ 15 - $ 20 billion have been quoted for the cost of M.U. While this may be a small percentage of the total CMS expanditures it is not a small number. The alternative allotment of these funds could be put to better use, and there are too many to outline here (This goes well beyond the scope of this article)
Federal ambition to harness EHR usage is stumbling badly. The usual lemming behavior of providers to follow 'leadership' is rapidly being replaced with "I am mad as hell, and I am not taking it anymore".
Common sense has been replaced with Orwellian thought and 1984 (Franz Kafka) thinking that government will control it all. In some sectors this has taken place in the U.S. and around the world.
This is not to say that analyzing the cost of 18% of the GDP is not worthwhile.
I expect this is just the beginning of the provider revolt sparked by the Affordable Care Act. and
fueled by poorly conceived mandates of the law.
The 2016 elections and partisan discord may override thoughtful process as to where we go from here. At the least we will see significant amendments to the ACA, or an outright dissolution and replacement with a thoughtful replacement.
Nancy Pelosi was correct in her prediction "We won't know what is in it until we pass it"
Her statement was accurate and expressed even her doubt about the ability to plan health care in a monolithic law. We now what is in the ACA. is a reflection of the comlexity of the American health system....
Stay tuned.
gml
Despite graphic presentations such as this one:
During 2015, over 200,000 doctor's flatly rejected MU II for any number of reasons, indicating one year ago they had no plan to be able to accomplish that federal mandate due to cost, lack of vendor support, or outright rejection of the federal mandate's effort to collect 'big data' for analysis. (JP Morgan annual healthcare conference in San Francisco.)
Even prior to this John Lynn (The HIT Consultant) had a plan to blow up Meaningful Use.
"If you live, work, touch healthcare IT, then your world has been dominated for the past 3-5 years with something called Meaningful Use. The concept is a good one. The government gave $36 billion of "shovel ready" (Sorry, I just love the irony of the shovel ready stimulus being only half spent 5 years later) stimulus money for Electronic Health Records (EHR) and wanted to make sure that doctors would actually be "meaningful users" of the EHR software. Where this falls apart is that much of meaningful or that many of the meaning has already been achieved."
Among the current 'buzz words' this decade are big data, analytics, predictive modelling, mobile health, telemedicine, algorithms and more.. The feds ambition to employ more statisticians and/or keep CMS and/or their contractors occupied has been judged by providers to be a well intended goal, which should be overidden by common sense. effort. Meaningful use has no relationship to quality of care, nor the functionality of the electronic health record.
Figures such as $ 15 - $ 20 billion have been quoted for the cost of M.U. While this may be a small percentage of the total CMS expanditures it is not a small number. The alternative allotment of these funds could be put to better use, and there are too many to outline here (This goes well beyond the scope of this article)
Federal ambition to harness EHR usage is stumbling badly. The usual lemming behavior of providers to follow 'leadership' is rapidly being replaced with "I am mad as hell, and I am not taking it anymore".
Common sense has been replaced with Orwellian thought and 1984 (Franz Kafka) thinking that government will control it all. In some sectors this has taken place in the U.S. and around the world.
This is not to say that analyzing the cost of 18% of the GDP is not worthwhile.
I expect this is just the beginning of the provider revolt sparked by the Affordable Care Act. and
fueled by poorly conceived mandates of the law.
The 2016 elections and partisan discord may override thoughtful process as to where we go from here. At the least we will see significant amendments to the ACA, or an outright dissolution and replacement with a thoughtful replacement.
Nancy Pelosi was correct in her prediction "We won't know what is in it until we pass it"
Her statement was accurate and expressed even her doubt about the ability to plan health care in a monolithic law. We now what is in the ACA. is a reflection of the comlexity of the American health system....
Stay tuned.
gml
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
3 Digital Health Market Revelations to Watch in 2016
The following article appeared in HIT Consultant.
It is true that spending for HIT Applications has exploded. It has not yet been demonstrated what the return on investment has been. Often an application is developed, marketed and raved about but fails to either capture sufficient interest, or does not have proven value. The end game is whether users (health providers, patients or others) deem them to be of value in their lives or work.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
2016 What are the New Rules For Our Health’s Digital Future |
2016 is now well underway.No matter what your political proclivities may be the ride will be fraught with potholes.
Big Data and Analytics. Some of my sources reveal that some developers are feasting on the big hype using unproven metrics. Barbara Duck
Technology promises to transform health care. It’s redefining how we interact with, and act on, our health data, and reshaping how care is delivered and coordinated. But uptake so far has been limited, particularly among the elderly, those with chronic conditions and others who could benefit most from a better, smarter health care system.
On the other side of the new rules, providers are adopting and adapting to new HIT tools, for better or worse. Pandora's box is open and the horse has left the barn. It is like the conversion from horse carriages to motor vehicles, less manure, higher speeds, and more pollution. That's the way it is will all disruptive technology. Sometimes in order to go faster, we must go slower at first.
Time will refine HIT offerings, just as motor vehicles evolved....larger engines, power steering. automatic transmissions, cruise control, electronic add ons, computerized engine control and more.
Just as old motor vehicle are barely recognizable as what we use today for motor vehicles, so too will health care evolve into something unrecognizable from what is today.
"Payment matters. So to lack reimbursement is, effectively, to not exist at all. "Although difficult to quantify, the downstream effects may go further than access alone. These policies also shape how entrepreneurs and
investors size up market opportunities and form views on product strategy. By erecting barriers to adoption of technology, CMS could inadvertently subvert its very development.
Modernize reimbursement to promote innovation
"Earlier this year, Medicare committed to moving 50 percent of total spending in the coming years to new payment models that reward value rather than volume. While it hasn’t attracted
as much attention, we also urgently need new health technology to help providers, payers and patients make the transition. And CMS ought to make its payment rules more flexible to spur innovation.
"A first step in this direction came with CMS’ recent rule for its bundled payment program for hip and knee replacements. Starting in April 2016, hospitals in 67 geographic areas across the country
including New York City, Miami and San Francisco) will be accountable for the costs and qualityperformance associated with the entire episode of care — spanning the initial hospitalization for joint replacement surgery to the 90 days following the patient’s discharge.
Technology promises to transform health care.
Big Data and Analytics. Some of my sources reveal that some developers are feasting on the big hype using unproven metrics. Barbara Duck
Technology promises to transform health care. It’s redefining how we interact with, and act on, our health data, and reshaping how care is delivered and coordinated. But uptake so far has been limited, particularly among the elderly, those with chronic conditions and others who could benefit most from a better, smarter health care system.
On the other side of the new rules, providers are adopting and adapting to new HIT tools, for better or worse. Pandora's box is open and the horse has left the barn. It is like the conversion from horse carriages to motor vehicles, less manure, higher speeds, and more pollution. That's the way it is will all disruptive technology. Sometimes in order to go faster, we must go slower at first.
Time will refine HIT offerings, just as motor vehicles evolved....larger engines, power steering. automatic transmissions, cruise control, electronic add ons, computerized engine control and more.
Just as old motor vehicle are barely recognizable as what we use today for motor vehicles, so too will health care evolve into something unrecognizable from what is today.
Featured Image: Bloomua/Shutterstock
Payment rules shape access to technology
" Every year, CMS (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) develops regulations governing the payment of treatments and services provided to the one in three Americans covered by Medicare or Medicaid. They determine not only which technologies will be funded, but also how, when and at what level they will be reimbursed."Payment matters. So to lack reimbursement is, effectively, to not exist at all. "Although difficult to quantify, the downstream effects may go further than access alone. These policies also shape how entrepreneurs and
investors size up market opportunities and form views on product strategy. By erecting barriers to adoption of technology, CMS could inadvertently subvert its very development.
Modernize reimbursement to promote innovation
"Earlier this year, Medicare committed to moving 50 percent of total spending in the coming years to new payment models that reward value rather than volume. While it hasn’t attracted
as much attention, we also urgently need new health technology to help providers, payers and patients make the transition. And CMS ought to make its payment rules more flexible to spur innovation.
"A first step in this direction came with CMS’ recent rule for its bundled payment program for hip and knee replacements. Starting in April 2016, hospitals in 67 geographic areas across the country
including New York City, Miami and San Francisco) will be accountable for the costs and qualityperformance associated with the entire episode of care — spanning the initial hospitalization for joint replacement surgery to the 90 days following the patient’s discharge.
Technology promises to transform health care.
" The final rule grants new found flexibility for providers to leverage
technology more directly to improve patient care. One notable change:
For program participants, Medicare has agreed to lift many of its
restrictions on telemedicine. Telemedicine can now be used to provide
remote care in the patient’s home. And gone are the agency’s usual
geographic restrictions: Patients in urban areas will qualify for
telehealth services, too.
"Participating hospitals will also be allowed to provide incentives,
worth up to a thousand dollars per beneficiary per episode, directly to
patients to improve engagement and treatment adherence. The agency
singles out weight and vital-sign trackers, but providers will have the
authority to decide which incentives would work best for their patients.
"Equally important, the rule is likely to trigger demand for entirely
new classes of technology. The most immediate need will be for
administrative platforms to build episodes and monitor clinical and
financial performance.
"Providers will also need new tools to facilitate the sharing of
health information, including electronic health records, to support care
coordination. While hospitals have benefited from federal stimulus
dollars to incentivize health IT adoption, post-acute care providers
have generally been slower to adopt health IT systems.
"More so than ever, health IT will be a “critical capability,” as the agency itself notes, for the success of all stakeholders in patient care.
Looking forward
"For now, these tech-friendly provisions are limited to the joint
replacement program. CMS can and should apply this flexibility to its
other value-linked payment programs.
"It would be difficult to overstate the long-term impact of this
change. Because Medicare is the single largest payer in the country, its
rules set the de facto standard for other insurers. In fact,
commercial payers, including Aetna, United Health and Blue Cross Blue
Shield plans, are already stepping up to meet or exceed Medicare’s
targets for expanding value-based care. And many of the new technologies
that are being developed will be broadly applicable across the care
spectrum, regardless of payer or provider.
"It’s the start of a new chapter, one that will hopefully feature
better technology and better care. But to get there, we’ll first need to
modernize our payment rules. Our health depends on it. "
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