Policy

At HIMSS, Seema Verma announces MyHealthEData initiative, stresses putting patients first

During a Tuesday morning session at HIMSS, CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced the MyHealthEData initiative, a government-wide project aimed at giving patients more control over their health information. She also said the agency is planning "a complete overhaul of the Meaningful Use program for hospitals."

Seema Verma gets into an elevator as she arrives at Trump Tower, November 22, 2016 in New York City.

During a Tuesday morning session at HIMSS, CMS Administrator Seema Verma took the stage to discuss the agency’s new MyHealthEData initiative, as well as the new direction of other government programs.

Her speech was clearly a popular one — the ballroom and an overflow room were jam-packed with attendees.

Verma spent a majority of time stressing the MyHealthEData initiative, a government-wide project aimed at giving patients more control over their health information. Its goal is “making the patient the center of our healthcare system,” she said.

MyHealthEData is spearheaded by the White House Office of American Innovation, which is directed by President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who (rather unexpectedly) introduced Verma at HIMSS. CMS, the ONC, the NIH and the VA will also participate, according to a news release.

Verma can attest to health information access problems. While traveling last summer, her husband collapsed at the airport and stopped breathing. He was taken to the hospital and eventually discharged. When Verma asked his doctors for his medical records, they gave her five sheets of paper and a CD-ROM. This practice, she said, is outdated.

“Most computers don’t even take CD-ROMs anymore,” she added.

Limiting patients’ control over their healthcare information is something that has to stop. To that end, Verma said CMS will “not tolerate” the practice of data blocking among hospitals and providers.

As part of her remarks, she also said CMS plans to unveil “a complete overhaul of the Meaningful Use program for hospitals.”

Plus, the agency will overhaul the documentation requirements of evaluation and management codes, which physicians utilize to bill Medicare, in an effort to decrease the time doctors spend on their EHRs.

The Blue Button program is getting revamped, too. As Verma said, the new name of the initiative — Blue Button 2.0 — is far from original. The updated effort “is a developer-friendly, standards-based API that enables Medicare beneficiaries to connect their claims data to secure applications, services and research programs that they trust,” Verma said.

Overall, Verma’s speech had a heavy focus on the need for patient engagement and a shift away from the fee-for-service model. Her remarks come a day after newly minted HHS Secretary Alex Azar told the Federation of American Hospitals that value-based care is a priority for the department.

Despite these comments, CMS seems to be making is position on value-based care pretty clear. With the cancellation of initiatives like the mandatory hip fracture and cardiac bundled payment programs, the agency is prioritizing voluntary efforts over mandatory ones.

Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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