A think tank with a healthcare task force chaired by former Senators Tom Daschle, a Democrat, and Bill Frist, MD, a Republican, is advocating for improved and better-used health information technology. Among the group's recommendations is "robust" data exchange.
The Bipartisan Policy Center's Task Force on Delivery System Reform and Health IT released its report on Jan. 27.
Besides data exchange, the recommendations range from realigning incentives and payments to support higher quality, more cost-effective care to increasing the use of electronic health records.
“There is strong bipartisan support for health IT, and for moving away from a payment model that largely focuses on volume – rewarding providers for doing more – rather than on quality outcomes or value,” said Daschle.
“To deliver high-quality, cost-effective care, a physician or hospital needs good information,” said Frist. “Data about patients has to flow across primary care physicians, hospitals, labs, and anywhere that patients receive care.”
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The two former senators note that the recommendations come at a time of unprecedented public and private spending on health IT. An investment of nearly $30 billion was triggered by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, spurring significant investments by the private sector. They note that a majority of the federal investment is in the form of incentive payments through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.
The task force recommends actions for aligning incentives and payment with higher quality, more cost-effective care, along with the health IT-enabled, coordinated, accountable, patient-centered delivery models that support such outcomes.
To further accelerate health information exchange, the Task Force recommends that the next phase of meaningful use and related standards and certification programs support the more robust exchange of standards-based data across multiple settings; public-private sector agreement on and execution of a common set of principles, policies and methods for exchange in the near-term; and the development and execution of a long-term strategy for the data standards and interoperability needs associated with delivering care, empowering patients, and improving population health.
Educating consumers about the benefits of electronic tools, and promoting their use, is an additional focus of the task force’s recommendations.
“We need a bold campaign to raise awareness among consumers about the benefits of using these tools,” said BPC Health Project State Co-Chair and former Gov. Ted Strickland. “We need to make it easier for consumers to navigate the health care system and take control of their health.”
The task force also recommends several actions to promote the use of electronic tools to improve patient-provider communication, coordinate care, expand access and empower individuals to manage their health and healthcare. They include expanding considerably upon the current consumer awareness campaign; educating and supporting providers in the adoption of electronic tools to support patient engagement; and making tools widely available so that patients can easily download health information from their provider’s EHR into their own personal health record.
The task force also recognizes that it is necessary to issue consistent, comprehensive and clear guidance on federal privacy and security laws covering personal health information and calls for consistent protection of personal health information.
Additionally, it calls for an expansion of education and implementation assistance programs to help providers achieve meaningful use – with a particular focus on small physician practices and community hospitals and clinics that deliver care to rural and underserved populations.
Finally, the task force recommends further alignment of health IT requirements across federal health are programs so that common health IT solutions can meet the multiple needs of programs supporting delivery system transformation, payment, public health, coverage and access, and administrative improvement. The task force urges coordination of quality measurement programs and alignment of measurement specifications with federally adopted data standards.
“Coordinated, accountable, patient-centered models of care—previously implemented by only a handful of high-performing organizations – are poised for more widespread adoption,” said Janet Marchibroda, Chair of BPC’s Health IT Initiative. “Health IT not only plays a critical role in the success of these organizations, it also enables the rapid spread of the very functions that have made these models successful, to the rest of the U.S. healthcare system.”
For a list of task force members, see next page.
Task Force on Delivery System Reform and Health IT
- Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD), Co-Chair
- Senator Bill Frist, MD (R-TN), Co-Chair
- Scott Armstrong, President and Chief Executive Officer, Group Health Cooperative
- Peter Basch, MD, FACP, Practicing Physician; Medical Director, Ambulatory EHR and Health IT Policy, MedStar Health; Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; Visiting Scholar, Brookings Institution
- Christine Bechtel, Vice President, National Partnership for Women and Families
- David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, Harvard University; Former National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, HHS
- Russ Branzell, Chief Information Officer, Poudre Valley Health System
- Christine Cassell, MD, President, American Board of Internal Medicine
- Reginald Coopwood, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Regional Medical Center at Memphis
- Janet Corrigan, PhD, President, National Quality Forum
- Michael Critelli, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dossia
- Governor John Engler, President and Chief Executive Officer, Business Roundtable
- Alissa Fox, Senior Vice President, Office of Policy and Representation, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
- John Glaser, Chief Executive Officer, Health Services, Siemens Healthcare
- Douglas E. Henley, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, American Academy of Family Physicians
- Karen Ignagni, President and Chief Executive Officer, America’s Health Insurance Plans
- Brent James, MD, M.Stat., Chief Quality Officer and Executive Director, Institute for Healthcare Delivery Research, Intermountain Health Care
- David Lansky, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Pacific Business Group on Health
- Jack Lewin, MD, Chief Executive Officer, American College of Cardiology
- Deven McGraw, Director, Health Privacy Project, Center for Democracy and Technology
- Margaret O’Kane, President, National Committee for Quality Assurance
- Stephen Palmer, State Health IT Coordinator and Director, Office of e-Health Coordination, Texas Health and Human Services Commission, State of Texas
- Herb Pardes, President and Chief Executive Officer, New York Presbyterian Hospital
- Robert Pearl, MD, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, The Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Permanente
- John Rother, Executive Vice President for Policy, Strategy and International Affairs, AARP
- Governor Mike Rounds (R-SD)
- Michael Simpson, Vice President and General Manager, Healthcare Knowledge and Connectivity Solutions, GE Healthcare
- Governor Ted Strickland (D-OH)
- Tony Tersigni, EdD, FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ascension Health System
- Betsy Weiner, Senior Associate Dean for Informatics, Vanderbilt University School for Nursing
- Task Force Lead: Janet Marchibroda, Chair, Health IT Initiative
