Care Coordination, Telehealth Expansion Highlighted in CHIME Comments to Senate Chronic Care Working Group
ANN ARBOR, MI, June 15, 2015 – In comments submitted to the Senate Finance Committee Work Group on Chronic Care, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) called on the committee to foster policies that bolster care coordination and telehealth services in the treatment of patients with chronic conditions.
Health information technology must be foundational to the delivery of patient care, especially those with chronic conditions, CHIME said.
“A high degree of data fluidity is imperative to reducing waste and improving quality within the U.S. healthcare system,” stated the industry’s leading professional organization for CIOs and senior IT executives. “CHIME calls on the committee to pursue policies with the intent to increase the exchange of health data, facilitating the compilation of a longitudinal healthcare record, to enable informed decision making for providers and patients alike.”
CHIME also encouraged the committee to rethink how federal programs define, reimburse and license providers for the delivery of telehealth services, citing that while technical challenges exist, the need to expand the use and availability of telehealth has become a top priority for the nation’s chief information officers (CIOs) and senior health IT leaders.
Further, the organization urged the committee to incorporate comprehensive patient education resources as telehealth services become standard in care plans for patients with chronic conditions.
“Telehealth instruction for both providers and patients should involve formal and comprehensive education,” CHIME said. “Telehealth policies should include patient (and family) access to appropriate and comprehensive patient education resources to increase both the quality and specificity of information exchanged with providers.”
CHIME recommended that the committee evaluate the role of the Meaningful Use program in the delivery of patient care and to work with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to ensure the health IT products certified to meet regulated specifications are able to facilitate the capture, exchange and use of data.
To read CHIME’s comment letter in its entirety, click here.
About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,500 CIO members and over 140 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve.
Contact
Matthew Weinstock
Director of Communications and Corporate Relations
734.665.0000
mweinstock@chimecentral.org