Data

Data / en Wed, 30 Jul 2025 08:29:39 -0500 Wed, 09 Jul 25 11:51:05 -0500 Wired for Wellness: Empowering Secure, Connected Care  /education-events/wired-wellness-empowering-secure-connected-care Wired for Wellness: Empowering Secure, Connected Care &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bringing care closer through smarter technology&nbsp; Tuesday, September 16, 2025&nbsp; 1 - 2 p.m. Eastern; noon - 1 p.m. Central; 10 - 11 a.m. Pacific &nbsp;Hospitals today face growing challenges as they work to modernize digital infrastructure, maintain cybersecurity and ensure seamless operations — all while striving to improve patient satisfaction. This webinar will explore key strategies for building resilient, secure connectivity that supports clinical efficiency, protects sensitive data and enhances the overall patient experience. You will gain practical insights into how health care organizations are tackling these challenges through smarter network design and technology integration, and leave with actionable ideas you can implement within your own systems. &nbsp;Attendees Will Learn How To:<ul><li>Enhance workforce performance with smarter workflows. &nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Drive efficiency and resilience through secure infrastructure. &nbsp;</li><li>Deliver patient experiences that feel more personal and connected. &nbsp;</li><li>Support seamless operations with robust, dependable connectivity. &nbsp;</li></ul>Speakers:Miles Tanner&nbsp; Director of Healthcare Cloud &amp; Security&nbsp; RapidScaleEric Flock&nbsp; Director, Vertical Solution Sales&nbsp; Cox Business&nbsp; Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:51:05 -0500 Data AHA Statement to Senate HELP Committee on Cybersecurity /testimony/2025-07-09-aha-statement-senate-help-committee-cybersecurity Statementof the�� Associationfor theCommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensionsof theUnited States Senate“Securing the Future of Health Care: Enhancing Cybersecurity and ProtectingAmericans’ Privacy”July 9, 2025On behalf of our nearly 5,000 member hospitals and health systems and other health care organizations, our clinician partners — including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers the �� Association (AHA) appreciates the opportunity to submit this statement for the record to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing, “Securing the Future of Health Care: Enhancing Cybersecurity and Protecting Americans’ Privacy.”<h2>HOSPITALS AND HEALTH SYSTEMS ARE COMMITTED TO CYBERSECURITY</h2>Cybersecurity is critical to ensuring that hospitals can provide safe, high-quality care to their communities. Hospitals and health systems have invested billions of dollars and taken many steps to protect patients and defend their networks from cyberattacks that can disrupt patient care and erode privacy by the loss of personal health care data. The AHA has long been committed to helping hospitals and health systems with these efforts, working closely with our federal partners, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and many others to defend against attacks from both criminal and national-state sponsored adversaries. The AHA has also worked with the Health Sector Coordinating Council and the Health-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) to build trusted relationships and channels for the mutual exchange of cyber threat information, develop risk mitigation practices, conduct regional field ransomware attack exercises and share lessons learned from ransomware attacks.According to U.S. government reporting, the most significant cyber threats targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, including health care, originate from noncooperative foreign jurisdictions.1,2,3,4 Cross-border hacking incidents, which result in the theft of protected health information (PHI) and ransomware attacks targeting health care have increased dramatically, rising nearly tenfold since 2020.&nbsp;According to the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the number of individuals impacted by health care data breaches increased from 27 million in 2020 to a staggering 259 million in 2024.5&nbsp; It is important to note that most PHI data breaches reported to OCR were the result of hacking incidents targeting non-hospital health care providers, including third-party service and software providers. In 2024, the Change Healthcare ransomware attack alone resulted in the theft of 190 million Americans’ PHI — the largest health care data breach in history. The AHA’s work in this area was critically important, allowing us to quickly assist members in their response to the Change Healthcare cyberattack. Since 2020, as reported by OCR, 590 million Americans have been impacted by health care breaches, meaning that the entirety of the U.S. population of 330 million individuals has had their health care records compromised in some manner, with most being impacted more than once.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>GOVERNMENT’S ROLE IN MITIGATING THE IMPACT OF CYBERATTACKS</h2>Congress should call on federal agencies to protect hospitals and health systems — and the patients they care for — by deploying a strong and sustained offensive cyber strategy to combat ongoing and unresolved national security threats.&nbsp;Health care is a top critical infrastructure sector with direct impact on public health and safety, and must be protected. Any cyberattack on the health care sector that disrupts or delays patient care creates a risk to patient safety and crosses the line from an economic crime to a threat-to-life crime. These attacks should be aggressively pursued and prosecuted by the federal government. Imposing swift and certain consequences upon cyber adversaries, who are often provided safe harbor in noncooperative foreign jurisdictions, is essential to reducing the cyber threats targeting health care and the nation.<h2>CYBERSECURITY CHALLENGES FOR RURAL HOSPITALS</h2>Rural hospitals can face unique risks, challenges and impacts when defending against cyberattacks. Rural hospitals are geographically remote, located in non-metropolitan counties, and may be well over a hundred miles from the nearest hospital. Ransomware attacks, which result in diverting patients and ambulances, can create delays in the provision of critical health care services, which can elevate the risk of a negative outcome for the patient.Rural hospitals can also face financial, human and technical resource challenges, which can affect the ability to respond to the increased cyber threat environment. Most rural hospitals operate on very thin financial margins or negative margins, with 48% of rural hospitals operating at a financial loss in 2023.<a href="#_ftn1" title="">[1]</a> Limited financial resources can impede rural hospitals’ ability to obtain the latest and most advanced cybersecurity technologies to defend and monitor hospital networks 24/7 and to replace aging and insecure third-party technology, such as medical devices.&nbsp;Lack of financial resources has also inhibited rural hospitals’ ability to recruit and retain cybersecurity professionals, who are in great demand in higher-paying urban areas, other sectors and government agencies.&nbsp;We look forward to working with Congress to find solutions to help rural hospitals manage cybersecurity challenges. We encourage Congress to provide additional financial resources and support for cybersecurity workforce strategies and training.&nbsp;For example, we support the development of workforce training programs to address the challenges of small and rural facilities. We also support workforce grant and retention efforts, with a particular focus on the retraining of veterans.<h2>CHANGE HEALTHCARE CYBERATTACK</h2>Last year’s attack on UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare incapacitated significant portions of our health care system’s critical functions that keep the health care system operating — from claims processing to clinical information exchange to prescription processing. The attack was the most significant and consequential cyberattack on the U.S. health care system in American history and ultimately exposed data of more than 190 million people. Every hospital in the country felt the impact, either directly or indirectly. Impacts varied depending on factors such as the amount of cash reserves, vendor redundancy and reliance on Change Healthcare technology.There are several lessons learned from this incident, and AHA would urge Congress to consider the following for future incidents:<ul><li>Financial resources, like the Accelerated and Advanced Payments (AAPs) and Temporary Funding Assistance program, and flexibilities in repayment terms were necessary long after systems were restored. Initially, the AAPs were only set up for 30 days and had an aggressive payback schedule. For many hospitals, it took months to fully work through claims backlogs and readjust cash flows. These resources were necessary to keep hospitals afloat while normal operating procedures were being restored. In the event of future large-scale incidents, it would be necessary to ensure resources are available for a sufficient time from the date of the incident and that reasonable, gradual repayment schedules are established.</li><li>Given the disruption in operating procedures and systems, HHS guidance was necessary to waive timely filing requirements for claims, extend timelines for appeals, and not deny claims due to lack of authorization/failure to give notice of admission/failure to electronically check eligibility, etc. For future incidents, these waivers and updates to timelines should be enacted sooner, since there is precedent from which to draw.</li><li>With respect to the Change Healthcare incident, the AHA urged for clarification that hospitals and other providers would not be responsible for additional breach notifications if UnitedHealth Group and Change Healthcare were doing so already. Streamlined notification processes would help avoid confusion and misunderstandings with messaging from multiple parties.</li><li>The Change Healthcare incident also underscored the importance of consistent cybersecurity standards across the health care ecosystem. With the rise in PHI data breaches related to third-party vendors, including Change Healthcare, it is imperative that entities not covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) must be subject to the same standards.</li></ul><h2>DEREGULATION EFFORTS TO SUPPORT DATA PRIVACY AND SECURITY</h2>The AHA supports the administration’s goals of reducing barriers for data interoperability and fostering innovation to support better health outcomes. We recognize the pivotal role that health technology plays in care delivery today and its potential to transform the patient and provider experience in the future.&nbsp;Moreover, we believe that technology and data interoperability have the potential to address some of the prevalent challenges confronting the health care ecosystem today, including provider burnout and staffing shortages driven by administrative burdens. We also recognize that the innovative applications of health information technology (IT) must be balanced with reasonable guardrails to protect sensitive patient data and ensure security and privacy.The AHA highlighted recommendations regarding data security and privacy in response to a request for information from the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services and the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on the Health Technology Ecosystem.7 We have also made similar recommendations in response to deregulation requests for information from the Office of Management and Budget, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice.8,9,10 For example, we have urged the agency to modify the HIPAA cybersecurity rule of December 2024 to make the requirements voluntary and to modify the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule to remove the requirement to report breaches affecting fewer than 500 individuals. The AHA does not support proposals for mandatory cybersecurity requirements levied on hospitals as if they were at fault for the success of hackers in perpetrating a crime. Instead, the AHA supports voluntary consensus-based cybersecurity practices such as the cybersecurity performance goals. The now well-documented source of cybersecurity risk in the health care sector, including the Change Healthcare cyberattack, is from vulnerabilities in third-party technology, not hospitals’ primary systems. No organization, including federal agencies, is or can be immune to cyberattacks. To make meaningful progress in the war on cybercrime, Congress and the administration should focus on the entire health care sector and not just hospitals.As part of the AHA’s responses to deregulation requests for information, we have also urged the elimination of 42 CFR Part 2 requirements that hinder care team access to important health information and protect patient privacy under HIPAA.&nbsp;Despite regulatory changes in the past several years, the regulations in Part 2 are outdated, fail to protect patient privacy and erect sometimes insurmountable barriers to providing coordinated, whole-person care to people with a history of substance use disorder (SUD). Specifically, the regulations require the separation of records pertaining to SUD information, which prevents the integration of behavioral and physical health care because the patient data cannot be used and disclosed like all other health care data.<h2>HIPAA PREEMPTION</h2>While generally preempting contrary state law, HIPAA does not preempt state law that is “more stringent” than the requirements that it mandates.&nbsp;Specifically, state law is not preempted where: (1) state law is contrary to HIPAA; (2) relates to matters of individually identifiable health information; and (3) is more stringent than the HIPAA requirements.For all the strengths of the existing HIPAA framework, its approach to preemption has proven to be problematic. It creates unnecessary regulatory burdens on hospitals and health systems, forcing them to satisfy a myriad of legal requirements that raise compliance costs and divert limited resources that could be used on patient care. In addition, the existing state and federal patchwork of health information privacy requirements remains a significant barrier to the robust sharing of patient information necessary for coordinated clinical treatment. For instance, the patchwork of differing requirements poses significant challenges for providers’ use of a common electronic health record that is a critical part of the infrastructure necessary for effectively coordinating patient care and maintaining population health.If Congress were to make any changes to HIPAA, it should address this problem and enact a full preemption provision.&nbsp;HIPAA is more than sufficient to protect patient privacy and, if interpreted correctly, it strikes the appropriate balance between health information privacy and valuable information-sharing. Varying state laws only add costs and create complications for hospitals and health systems.&nbsp;As such, the AHA reiterates its long-standing recommendation that Congress strengthen HIPAA preemption.<h2>CONCLUSION</h2>The AHA looks forward to working with Congress to ensure hospitals and health systems have the tools they need to continue to ensure the safety and privacy of their patients and their medical information.<div><hr><div id="ftn1">1&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ATA-2025-Unclassified-Report.pdf">https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ATA-2025-Unclassified-Report.pdf</a><div id="ftn2">2&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2024_IC3Report.pdf">https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2024_IC3Report.pdf</a></div><div id="ftn3">3&nbsp;<a href="https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-a-un-security-council-briefing-on-ransomware-attacks-against-hospitals-and-other-healthcare-facilities-and-services/">https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-a-un-security-council-briefing-on-ransomware-attacks-against-hospitals-and-other-healthcare-facilities-and-services/</a></div><div id="ftn4">4&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cisa.gov/topics/cyber-threats-and-advisories/nation-state-cyber-actors">https://www.cisa.gov/topics/cyber-threats-and-advisories/nation-state-cyber-actors</a></div><div id="ftn5">5&nbsp;<a href="https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/breach/breach_report.jsf">https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/breach/breach_report.jsf</a>&nbsp;<div><div id="ftn1">6 AHA analysis of RAND Hospital Cost Report data.</div></div>7&nbsp;<a href="/system/files/media/file/2025/06/aha-comments-on-the-cms-and-astp-onc-request-for-information-re-the-health-technology-ecosystem-letter-6-16-2025.pdf">/system/files/media/file/2025/06/aha-comments-on-the-cms-and-astp-onc-request-for-information-re-the-health-technology-ecosystem-letter-6-16-2025.pdf</a>&nbsp;<div><div id="ftn1">8 <a href="/system/files/media/file/2025/05/aha-response-to-omb-deregulation-rfi-letter-5-12-2025.pdf">/system/files/media/file/2025/05/aha-response-to-omb-deregulation-rfi-letter-5-12-2025.pdf</a></div><div id="ftn2">9 <a class="ck-anchor" href="/system/files/media/file/2025/05/AHA-Comments-on-FTC-Anticompetitive-Deregulations-RFI.pdf" id="/system/files/media/file/2025/05/AHA-Comments-on-FTC-Anticompetitive-Deregulations-RFI.pd">/system/files/media/file/2025/05/AHA-Comments-on-FTC-Anticompetitive-Deregulations-RFI.pdf</a></div><div id="ftn3">10&nbsp;<a class="ck-anchor" href="/system/files/media/file/2025/05/AHA-Comments-on-DOJ-Anticompetitive-Deregulations-RFI.pdf" id="/system/files/media/file/2025/05/AHA-Comments-on-DOJ-Anticompetitive-Deregulations-RFI.pdf">/system/files/media/file/2025/05/AHA-Comments-on-DOJ-Anticompetitive-Deregulations-RFI.pdf</a>&nbsp;</div></div></div></div></div> Wed, 09 Jul 2025 09:00:00 -0500 Data CDC streamlines bird flu and influenza reporting /news/headline/2025-07-08-cdc-streamlines-bird-flu-and-influenza-reporting The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention July 7 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html" target="_blank">announced</a> it is streamlining H5N1 bird flu updates with its <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/index.html" target="_blank">routine influenza data</a> given the low public health risk and lack of person-to-person spread. Data on the number of people monitored and tested for bird flu will be reported monthly.Bird flu detection data in animals will no longer be reported on the CDC website; instead, it will be publicly available on the U.S. Department of Agriculture <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/h5n1-hpai" target="_blank">website</a>. Tue, 08 Jul 2025 14:25:14 -0500 Data Beyond the Org Chart: Transforming Health Systems Through Data-Driven Organization Design /education-events/beyond-org-chart-transforming-health-systems-through-data-driven-organization-design Beyond the Org Chart: Transforming Health Systems Through Data-Driven Organization Design &nbsp;Tuesday, June 17, 2025&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 1 - 2 p.m. Eastern; noon - 1 p.m. Central; 10 - 11 a.m. Pacific &nbsp; &nbsp;<div class="webreplay"> .webreplay{ border: solid 2px #777; padding: 15px 5px; margin: 0 0 10px 15px; } @media (min-width:360px){ .webreplay{ min-width: 290px; float: right; } } <h2 class="text-align-center">On-demand Webinar</h2>&nbsp;MktoForms2.loadForm("//sponsors.aha.org", "710-ZLL-651", 4623);</div>Is your health system structured for peak performance? As labor challenges, rising costs and consolidation reshape health care, many organizations are rethinking how they organize their workforce and reporting functions. Understanding when a centralized or decentralized approach is most appropriate is key to aligning structure with strategy and performance goals. Centralization can be more than a structural shift — it can be a strategic approach that can improve cost efficiency, strengthen workforce alignment and streamline operations. In this webinar, we’ll explore how intentional organization design — rooted in key elements like roles, governance and culture — can drive stronger business outcomes. We’ll also highlight common pitfalls, such as relying solely on org charts, and how a holistic, well-sequenced strategy leads to meaningful change. &nbsp;We’ll share an example of how this approach can be applied to Human Resources in a systemwide HR transformation effort. This case will illustrate how centralizing HR functions can enable consistency, scalability and better service delivery across the organization. &nbsp;Don’t miss this opportunity to gain practical tools and insights to ensure your organization’s structure is aligned, efficient and built for long-term success.Attendees Will Learn:<ul><li>Understand the key elements of organization design and how to align them to effectively execute strategy and support your mission. &nbsp;</li><li>Gain insight into when to apply centralized vs. decentralized models and how each approach influences cost efficiency, alignment and operational effectiveness. &nbsp;</li><li>Examine an HR transformation example to see how thoughtful design and centralization can improve scalability, consistency and service delivery.</li></ul>Speakers:Garrett Sheridan&nbsp; CEO &amp; Managing Partner&nbsp; Lotis BlueJames Roth&nbsp; Managing Principal&nbsp; SullivanCotter, Inc.&nbsp;Moderator:&nbsp; Sean C. Butler&nbsp; Director of Client Experience&nbsp; SullivanCotter&nbsp; Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:15:43 -0500 Data HHS Publishes TEFCA Provisions of Health Data, Technology and Interoperability Rule /advisory/2024-12-19-hhs-publishes-tefca-provisions-health-data-technology-and-interoperability-rule <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8">The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Dec. 16 published a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/05/2024-14975/health-data-technology-and-interoperability-patient-engagement-information-sharing-and-public-health">final rule</a> implementing provisions related to the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). The rule is intended to advance equity, innovation and interoperability by promoting the use and exchange of electronically captured health information as specified in certain provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009.The final rule adds a new part — part 172 — to title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations to implement certain provisions related to TEFCA. These provisions establish the qualifications necessary for an entity to receive and maintain designation as a Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN) capable of trusted exchange according to TEFCA. The final rule covers procedures governing QHINs including onboarding, designation, suspension and termination. The provisions this final rule adopts are not substantively different from those first proposed in August as part of the much larger&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/05/2024-14975/health-data-technology-and-interoperability-patient-engagement-information-sharing-and-public-health">Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: Patient Engagement, Information Sharing, and Public Health Interoperability (HTI-2)</a> rule and will be effective Jan. 15, 2025. Additional provisions of the HTI-2 rule, including Prior Authorization Application Programming Interfaces, more information blocking exceptions, United States Core Data for Interoperability Version 4 standards, and public health interoperability requirements are currently under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget and could be published in the future.<h2>AHA TAKE</h2>In our comments on the proposed rule, AHA supported the TEFCA objective of creating a common national framework that provides a universal technical foundation for interoperability. We also supported ONC’s proposed requirements for organizations choosing to participate in TEFCA as a QHIN. Specifically, we supported the recommendation that any organization aspiring to become a QHIN must adhere to specific privacy and security guidelines, with additional stipulations for those providing Individual Access Services.However, we expressed concerns about what happens to the hospitals and health systems that rely on any QHIN that gets suspended or terminated from TEFCA. We appreciate that the ONC acknowledged our concerns in this area but are disappointed it declined to change the rule because the requested changes were deemed out of scope. We will continue to press this issue and encourage ONC to address it in future rulemaking.&nbsp;Moreover, we also expressed concerns about the existing governance structure of TEFCA which gives QHINs the primary responsibility for ensuring that its participants abide by TEFCA’s requirements. We conveyed that this governance structure runs the risk of quickly exceeding the capabilities of both QHINs and the Recognized Coordinating Entity — the organization responsible for TEFCA’s oversite — of effectively managing participation in TEFCA. Although ONC did not change the proposed rule, the agency acknowledged these concerns and noted it “will continue to monitor TEFCA” and “will consider additional measures should circumstances arise that show that QHINs require additional oversight.”<h2>WHAT YOU CAN DO</h2><ul><li>Share this advisory with your government relations, information systems and compliance teams to apprise them of this final rule.</li><li>Contact&nbsp;the AHA with any questions or concerns regarding these provisions.</li><li>Watch for notices of additional HTI-2 provisions published as final rules soon.</li></ul><h2>SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS</h2><ul type="disc"><li>Codifies (in new 45 CFR part 172) provisions related to TEFCA to provide greater process transparency and to further implement section 3001(c)(9) of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), as added by the Cures Act.</li><li>Establishes the processes for an entity to qualify and maintain designation as a QHIN capable of trusted exchange under the Common Agreement.</li><li>Establishes the procedures governing the onboarding, suspension, termination and administrative appeals to the ONC for QHINs.</li><li>Codifies requirements related to QHIN attestation for the adoption of TEFCA. This subpart implements section 3001(c)(9)(D) of the PHSA and includes the requirement for ONC to publish a list on their website of the health information networks that have adopted the Common Agreement and are capable of trusted exchange pursuant to the Common Agreement.</li><li>Reenforces that adoption of TEFCA is voluntary. Section 3001(c)(9)(D)(ii) requires HHS to establish, through notice and comment rulemaking, a process for HINs that voluntarily elect to adopt TEFCA to attest to such adoption.</li><li>Finalizes the TEFCA Manner Exception, which allows an actor to limit electronic health information sharing requests to TEFCA only without being considered information blocking with no revisions.</li></ul><h2>FURTHER QUESTIONS</h2>If you have further questions, please contact Stephen Hughes, AHA’s director of health information technology policy, at <a href="mailto:Stephen.hughes@aha.org">Stephen.hughes@aha.org</a>.</div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/system/files/media/file/2024/12/hhs-publishes-tefca-provisions-of-health-data-technology-and-interoperability-rule.pdf"><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/cover-hhs-publishes-tefca-provisions-of-health-data-technology-and-interoperability-rule.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type="file" alt="Regulatory Advisory Cover" width="679" height="878"></a></div></div></div> Thu, 19 Dec 2024 14:36:02 -0600 Data Preparing for the Future: How the Age-Friendly Health Systems Initiative is Transforming Care for America's Aging Population /advancing-health-podcast/2024-12-02-preparing-future-how-age-friendly-health-systems-initiative-transforming-care-americas 30 years from now, it's projected that nearly one quarter of America's population will be age 65 or older. To mitigate potential care gaps, the Age-Friendly Health Systems Initiative was created to improve health care for older adults. In this conversation, Dave Eaker, geriatric program coordinator at Atrium Health, and Shannon Morton, assistant vice president of patient care services at Atrium Health Cabarrus, discuss the reasons the organization made the jump to join the Initiative, the infrastructure being developed across the system, and the difference it's made for the aging population.Learn more about the <a href="/center/age-friendly-health-systems" title="Age-Friendly Health Systems">Age-Friendly Health Systems</a> initiative.<hr><div></div> <details class="transcript"> <summary> <h2 title="Click here to open/close the transcript."> View Transcript &nbsp; </h2> </summary> 00:00:00:11 - 00:00:22:04 Tom Haederle Hospitals and health systems are continually advancing innovation and using technology to transform patient care and improve health outcomes. Examples include better methods of collecting and organizing mountains of data, as well as partnering with universities to advance research. Artificial intelligence plays an ever-growing role as well, a trend that many leaders in the field consider the only way forward 00:00:22:05 - 00:00:44:07 Tom Haederle in a time of diminishing resources. Will the wider use of innovative tech make care more impersonal and put a damper on the human connection between patients and their doctors? Experts say no. In fact, just the opposite. 00:00:44:10 - 00:01:07:12 Tom Haederle Welcome to Advancing Health, the podcast of the �� Association. I'm Tom Haederle with AHA communications. In this month's Leadership Dialogue series podcast hosted by Dr. Joanne Conroy, CEO and President of Dartmouth Health and the 2024 board chair of the �� Association, we learn how Banner Health has gone all in with its commitment to embracing technological innovation. 00:01:07:15 - 00:01:20:05 Tom Haederle Artificial intelligence and other technologies can relieve caregivers of many of the tedious aspects of their jobs, freeing up precious time to spend building relationships with their patients and greatly increasing patient satisfaction. 00:01:20:07 - 00:01:46:15 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Thank you for joining us today for another AHA Leadership Dialogue discussion. It's great to be with you. I'm Joanne Conroy, CEO and president of Dartmouth Health and the current chair of the �� Association Board of Trustees. I'm looking forward to our conversation today with my colleague Amy Perry, president and CEO of Banner Health. That's headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. 00:01:46:17 - 00:02:19:03 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Amy has a passion for innovation and research and has embraced Banner's mission of making health care easier so life can be better. Her career has been spent championing a people-first approach to health care. And as you'll hear, that approach extends to innovation and research that will make care better. Banner is a not for profit health system with 33 hospitals, including academic medical centers that provide access and health care services to over six states. 00:02:19:06 - 00:02:42:21 Joanne Conroy, M.D. And it is so well-suited to advancing innovation and research that improves the lives of patients, families and the communities that it serves. What is the role do you think that technology plays? Because I know Banner is investing big in technology to kind of help us move from aspiring to deliver greater value to actually doing it. 00:02:42:23 - 00:03:11:21 Amy Perry Yeah, I think it's the only way forward for us because we need to do things dramatically different. We don't see the reimbursement moving at the rate that it costs us to deliver the care that we need to. And at Banner, and I'm sure similar to other nonprofits, we deliver $760 million in free care and uncompensated services a year so, three quarters of $1 billion dollars, 00:03:11:23 - 00:03:38:17 Amy Perry how do you make up that kind of difference? And we're going to try to do it through technological innovation. So our board has agreed to put aside $1 billion dollars, that's a really big amount of money that we're planning to invest in technology. We're nine months into our strategy. And number one is, &nbsp;and it's no big surprise, it's really organizing our data. 00:03:38:20 - 00:04:05:01 Amy Perry And when you have a big health system like Banner that has really grown over the years, you find that there's a lot of data platforms that have been plugged in throughout the years. And so we need to create one data platform, and that's what we're working on right now. We are, you know, unifying our data fields pulling all of our -I mean, massive amounts of data. 00:04:05:03 - 00:04:36:16 Amy Perry We see 3.6 million unique lives every year. So you can imagine the data - that's more than 10 million encounters on an annual basis. So the amount of data that we need to manage is just extreme. So we need to do that. We need to have proper indexing. And with that platform, with that foundation, we believe we're going to be able to do all of the wonderful things that we hope we're going to be able to do with AI: 00:04:36:16 - 00:05:01:05 Amy Perry ambient listening, making it easier for our caregivers, letting our caregivers really work at the top of their license. So our technology plan is not only exciting. I think it's mandatory for our future sustainability, not just at Banner, but everywhere, because we're going to need to learn to work with less. 00:05:01:07 - 00:05:31:21 Joanne Conroy, M.D. When you think about data and using data to make the right clinical decisions, and then all the AI, generative AI, ambient listening, all the chat bots, things that you almost say replace vacancies with technology, how do you marry the two, and how would you describe that patient experience once you get that marriage of the data as well as the sexy generative AI? 00:05:31:24 - 00:05:37:26 Joanne Conroy, M.D. You know, having Hal in the room with you to guide you to care for your patients. 00:05:37:28 - 00:06:05:13 Amy Perry Yeah, it's a great, great point. First of all, I don't think we're really going to be replacing humans with technology any time soon. I think what we want to do is enhance the lives of the people that are providing the care, and allow them to work more efficiently so we can increase our access. You know, in Arizona, which is our largest market, it's one of the fastest growing cities in the US. 00:06:05:13 - 00:06:47:03 Amy Perry So just keeping up with the growth, what I'm hoping is that we can do more with the same number of people because we will, and not completely, but with less of a 1 to 1 addition, because we will be adding technology to make people's jobs more efficient. You know, I love ambient listening and having a one on one, eyeball to eyeball conversation that gets, you know, automatically absorbed into the chart, helps build and document and do all the tedious work that keeps our caregivers from being able to have that pure relationship with their patient, 00:06:47:05 - 00:07:21:22 Amy Perry that really gives them the joy that they came into medicine to have. And so I'm hoping that technology actually brings humans and our human interaction closer together, because it's doing the tedious work so our people can build the relationships that they care about. So, I just feel like all of this, including device integration, all of the fundamental things that we need to do to be able to improve eye contact, be able to improve the human experience. 00:07:21:22 - 00:07:26:09 Amy Perry And I think it's going to have a dramatic impact on patient satisfaction. 00:07:26:12 - 00:07:53:23 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Yeah. When we talk to our providers that are using the ambient technology, it is they're never going back, right? It's interesting. They initially say they it's a little bit more difficult because they're used to like filling out a framework. And now they're just having a conversation. So they have to kind of adjust their perspective a little bit. But they love it because it does 00:07:53:23 - 00:08:30:12 Joanne Conroy, M.D. just as you have said. It removes a lot of the tedious work. But there is tedious work that I think we're hoping that AI will do for us, you know, outside of the patient visit. And that is not only a back office billing where we've actually had AI in revenue cycle for years, but probably in writing code so all of our platforms will talk to each other, as well as actually getting patients to the right place, minimizing the number of calls that they have to make or people they have to talk to. 00:08:30:14 - 00:08:40:01 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Is there a downside to all the technology, though? Is there something that we should be concerned about and/or is Banner concerned about? 00:08:40:04 - 00:09:04:23 Amy Perry Absolutely. I think that the number one concern that we have is quality assurance. And so pretty much all of the AI that we've implemented, in fact, all of it has what we call humans in the loop. So we don't have any autonomous AI because we just are not confident with the data sources to make sure data in, data out. 00:09:04:25 - 00:09:33:20 Amy Perry So everything we do now does have, a quality assurance review, a human review, a make sure that we don't get too confident at this stage in the development that the technology is going to be right 100% at the time. So what we're really hoping is that it just elevates each of our abilities, whether it's in a business function or in a clinical function, but doesn't completely replace it. 00:09:33:22 - 00:10:11:06 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Talk a little bit about research. When I think about AI in research, I'm thinking it almost helps the patient kind of become a better patient, become more educated about the conditions they have, maybe access clinical trials if they're candidates for them and/or almost make every single interaction be kind of part of medical knowledge. But that's probably maybe overly simplistic as you look at really data and AI in research at Banner, what are your hopes for what that can do for you? 00:10:11:09 - 00:10:37:20 Amy Perry I think it'll have an incredible impact in a very good way. And you know, we have a very large relationship with the University of Arizona, three medical campuses and a lot of incredible researchers who need quality data to work through their ideas and to follow through in determining the potential for clinical trial candidates, things like that. 00:10:37:20 - 00:11:06:07 Amy Perry So our ability in the future, to be able to identify people who could benefit from a emerging technology and emerging drug and emerging treatment. I mean, I think we're going to be able to be so much more proactive because of the ability to have a computer scan all the data, find people that would be candidates for solutions that may not have existed when they were first diagnosed. 00:11:06:07 - 00:11:30:28 Amy Perry So I think that data, again, it all goes back to data, which is why that's the core of our technology plan and making sure that we're creating availability and access. Again, so much of this is access - to the trials that we currently have open, which is, you know, hundreds of trials through our relationships and through our amazing, principal investigators here. 00:11:30:28 - 00:11:54:09 Amy Perry And I'm sure you see the same thing, you know, working in an academic health system like you do. You know, just being able to match patients that could benefit from these emerging technologies. And that's just in and of itself, impossible without these kinds of data intervention bots, the kinds of things that are going to help us streamline that. 00:11:54:11 - 00:12:12:03 Amy Perry And then, of course, you know, the vaccine development, the kinds of things that were never even contemplated years ago are now facilitated with, you know, large processing, the ability to process just huge, large data models. So I could not be more excited. 00:12:12:05 - 00:12:37:11 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Yeah. You know, there are certain areas that just are hotbeds. I think our radiology, you know, they've been using AI for a long time. Maybe people are not aware of it, but almost a second set of eyes, on you know, every single image. And our pathologists, are you know, doing amazing things. And as our organization says, oh, we have to get our arms around artificial intelligence. 00:12:37:11 - 00:12:58:10 Joanne Conroy, M.D. And I feel like saying, hmm, it's out of the gate and halfway around the track already. And how do you actually support our researchers who are doing things &nbsp;at both of our institutions are amazing. I think the world that's facing us is going to be filled with technology and innovation, and we all just have to be a little bit nimble and open to change. 00:12:58:13 - 00:13:20:01 Joanne Conroy, M.D. But you are so well positioned to do that. So we want to thank you for sharing your valuable expertise and insights. You've had a remarkable career and have served in just an incredible array of payment systems that you're perfectly positioned to make a real impact at Banner in the six states that you serve. 00:13:20:05 - 00:13:22:25 Amy Perry I feel fortunate. So thank you. 00:13:22:29 - 00:13:36:14 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Well, thank you for doing everything you do, Amy. And until next time, thank everybody for tuning in. And I look forward to seeing you at next month's leadership dialogue. Have a great day. 00:13:36:17 - 00:13:43:24 Tom Haederle Thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you 00:13:43:26 - 00:13:44:27 Tom Haederle get your podcasts. </details> </div>--&gt; Mon, 02 Dec 2024 17:18:08 -0600 Data Leadership Dialogue Series: The Future is Here — Artificial Intelligence and Its Role in Health Care /advancing-health-podcast/2024-11-25-leadership-dialogue-series-future-here-artificial-intelligence-and-its-role-health-care Artificial intelligence (AI) in health care isn't an innovation for the distant future; it's already here. But how will it develop across all sectors of the health care field? In this Leadership Dialogue conversation, Amy Perry, president and CEO of Banner Health, discusses how AI and other technologies can relieve caregivers of tedious and time-consuming aspects of their jobs, and help organize critical data for caregivers, patients and research.This podcast has been edited for time, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlnpFa4yYPE" target="_blank" title="Leadership Dialogue Series: Advancing Health Care Innovation with Amy Perry">view the full conversation</a>.<hr><div><div></div></div><div class="raw-html-embed"> <details class="transcript"> <summary> <h2 title="Click here to open/close the transcript."> View Transcript &nbsp; </h2> </summary> 00:00:00:11 - 00:00:22:04 Tom Haederle Hospitals and health systems are continually advancing innovation and using technology to transform patient care and improve health outcomes. Examples include better methods of collecting and organizing mountains of data, as well as partnering with universities to advance research. Artificial intelligence plays an ever-growing role as well, a trend that many leaders in the field consider the only way forward 00:00:22:05 - 00:00:44:07 Tom Haederle in a time of diminishing resources. Will the wider use of innovative tech make care more impersonal and put a damper on the human connection between patients and their doctors? Experts say no. In fact, just the opposite. 00:00:44:10 - 00:01:07:12 Tom Haederle Welcome to Advancing Health, the podcast of the �� Association. I'm Tom Haederle with AHA communications. In this month's Leadership Dialogue series podcast hosted by Dr. Joanne Conroy, CEO and President of Dartmouth Health and the 2024 board chair of the �� Association, we learn how Banner Health has gone all in with its commitment to embracing technological innovation. 00:01:07:15 - 00:01:20:05 Tom Haederle Artificial intelligence and other technologies can relieve caregivers of many of the tedious aspects of their jobs, freeing up precious time to spend building relationships with their patients and greatly increasing patient satisfaction. 00:01:20:07 - 00:01:46:15 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Thank you for joining us today for another AHA Leadership Dialogue discussion. It's great to be with you. I'm Joanne Conroy, CEO and president of Dartmouth Health and the current chair of the �� Association Board of Trustees. I'm looking forward to our conversation today with my colleague Amy Perry, president and CEO of Banner Health. That's headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. 00:01:46:17 - 00:02:19:03 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Amy has a passion for innovation and research and has embraced Banner's mission of making health care easier so life can be better. Her career has been spent championing a people-first approach to health care. And as you'll hear, that approach extends to innovation and research that will make care better. Banner is a not for profit health system with 33 hospitals, including academic medical centers that provide access and health care services to over six states. 00:02:19:06 - 00:02:42:21 Joanne Conroy, M.D. And it is so well-suited to advancing innovation and research that improves the lives of patients, families and the communities that it serves. What is the role do you think that technology plays? Because I know Banner is investing big in technology to kind of help us move from aspiring to deliver greater value to actually doing it. 00:02:42:23 - 00:03:11:21 Amy Perry Yeah, I think it's the only way forward for us because we need to do things dramatically different. We don't see the reimbursement moving at the rate that it costs us to deliver the care that we need to. And at Banner, and I'm sure similar to other nonprofits, we deliver $760 million in free care and uncompensated services a year so, three quarters of $1 billion dollars, 00:03:11:23 - 00:03:38:17 Amy Perry how do you make up that kind of difference? And we're going to try to do it through technological innovation. So our board has agreed to put aside $1 billion dollars, that's a really big amount of money that we're planning to invest in technology. We're nine months into our strategy. And number one is, &nbsp;and it's no big surprise, it's really organizing our data. 00:03:38:20 - 00:04:05:01 Amy Perry And when you have a big health system like Banner that has really grown over the years, you find that there's a lot of data platforms that have been plugged in throughout the years. And so we need to create one data platform, and that's what we're working on right now. We are, you know, unifying our data fields pulling all of our -I mean, massive amounts of data. 00:04:05:03 - 00:04:36:16 Amy Perry We see 3.6 million unique lives every year. So you can imagine the data - that's more than 10 million encounters on an annual basis. So the amount of data that we need to manage is just extreme. So we need to do that. We need to have proper indexing. And with that platform, with that foundation, we believe we're going to be able to do all of the wonderful things that we hope we're going to be able to do with AI: 00:04:36:16 - 00:05:01:05 Amy Perry ambient listening, making it easier for our caregivers, letting our caregivers really work at the top of their license. So our technology plan is not only exciting. I think it's mandatory for our future sustainability, not just at Banner, but everywhere, because we're going to need to learn to work with less. 00:05:01:07 - 00:05:31:21 Joanne Conroy, M.D. When you think about data and using data to make the right clinical decisions, and then all the AI, generative AI, ambient listening, all the chat bots, things that you almost say replace vacancies with technology, how do you marry the two, and how would you describe that patient experience once you get that marriage of the data as well as the sexy generative AI? 00:05:31:24 - 00:05:37:26 Joanne Conroy, M.D. You know, having Hal in the room with you to guide you to care for your patients. 00:05:37:28 - 00:06:05:13 Amy Perry Yeah, it's a great, great point. First of all, I don't think we're really going to be replacing humans with technology any time soon. I think what we want to do is enhance the lives of the people that are providing the care, and allow them to work more efficiently so we can increase our access. You know, in Arizona, which is our largest market, it's one of the fastest growing cities in the US. 00:06:05:13 - 00:06:47:03 Amy Perry So just keeping up with the growth, what I'm hoping is that we can do more with the same number of people because we will, and not completely, but with less of a 1 to 1 addition, because we will be adding technology to make people's jobs more efficient. You know, I love ambient listening and having a one on one, eyeball to eyeball conversation that gets, you know, automatically absorbed into the chart, helps build and document and do all the tedious work that keeps our caregivers from being able to have that pure relationship with their patient, 00:06:47:05 - 00:07:21:22 Amy Perry that really gives them the joy that they came into medicine to have. And so I'm hoping that technology actually brings humans and our human interaction closer together, because it's doing the tedious work so our people can build the relationships that they care about. So, I just feel like all of this, including device integration, all of the fundamental things that we need to do to be able to improve eye contact, be able to improve the human experience. 00:07:21:22 - 00:07:26:09 Amy Perry And I think it's going to have a dramatic impact on patient satisfaction. 00:07:26:12 - 00:07:53:23 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Yeah. When we talk to our providers that are using the ambient technology, it is they're never going back, right? It's interesting. They initially say they it's a little bit more difficult because they're used to like filling out a framework. And now they're just having a conversation. So they have to kind of adjust their perspective a little bit. But they love it because it does 00:07:53:23 - 00:08:30:12 Joanne Conroy, M.D. just as you have said. It removes a lot of the tedious work. But there is tedious work that I think we're hoping that AI will do for us, you know, outside of the patient visit. And that is not only a back office billing where we've actually had AI in revenue cycle for years, but probably in writing code so all of our platforms will talk to each other, as well as actually getting patients to the right place, minimizing the number of calls that they have to make or people they have to talk to. 00:08:30:14 - 00:08:40:01 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Is there a downside to all the technology, though? Is there something that we should be concerned about and/or is Banner concerned about? 00:08:40:04 - 00:09:04:23 Amy Perry Absolutely. I think that the number one concern that we have is quality assurance. And so pretty much all of the AI that we've implemented, in fact, all of it has what we call humans in the loop. So we don't have any autonomous AI because we just are not confident with the data sources to make sure data in, data out. 00:09:04:25 - 00:09:33:20 Amy Perry So everything we do now does have, a quality assurance review, a human review, a make sure that we don't get too confident at this stage in the development that the technology is going to be right 100% at the time. So what we're really hoping is that it just elevates each of our abilities, whether it's in a business function or in a clinical function, but doesn't completely replace it. 00:09:33:22 - 00:10:11:06 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Talk a little bit about research. When I think about AI in research, I'm thinking it almost helps the patient kind of become a better patient, become more educated about the conditions they have, maybe access clinical trials if they're candidates for them and/or almost make every single interaction be kind of part of medical knowledge. But that's probably maybe overly simplistic as you look at really data and AI in research at Banner, what are your hopes for what that can do for you? 00:10:11:09 - 00:10:37:20 Amy Perry I think it'll have an incredible impact in a very good way. And you know, we have a very large relationship with the University of Arizona, three medical campuses and a lot of incredible researchers who need quality data to work through their ideas and to follow through in determining the potential for clinical trial candidates, things like that. 00:10:37:20 - 00:11:06:07 Amy Perry So our ability in the future, to be able to identify people who could benefit from a emerging technology and emerging drug and emerging treatment. I mean, I think we're going to be able to be so much more proactive because of the ability to have a computer scan all the data, find people that would be candidates for solutions that may not have existed when they were first diagnosed. 00:11:06:07 - 00:11:30:28 Amy Perry So I think that data, again, it all goes back to data, which is why that's the core of our technology plan and making sure that we're creating availability and access. Again, so much of this is access - to the trials that we currently have open, which is, you know, hundreds of trials through our relationships and through our amazing, principal investigators here. 00:11:30:28 - 00:11:54:09 Amy Perry And I'm sure you see the same thing, you know, working in an academic health system like you do. You know, just being able to match patients that could benefit from these emerging technologies. And that's just in and of itself, impossible without these kinds of data intervention bots, the kinds of things that are going to help us streamline that. 00:11:54:11 - 00:12:12:03 Amy Perry And then, of course, you know, the vaccine development, the kinds of things that were never even contemplated years ago are now facilitated with, you know, large processing, the ability to process just huge, large data models. So I could not be more excited. 00:12:12:05 - 00:12:37:11 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Yeah. You know, there are certain areas that just are hotbeds. I think our radiology, you know, they've been using AI for a long time. Maybe people are not aware of it, but almost a second set of eyes, on you know, every single image. And our pathologists, are you know, doing amazing things. And as our organization says, oh, we have to get our arms around artificial intelligence. 00:12:37:11 - 00:12:58:10 Joanne Conroy, M.D. And I feel like saying, hmm, it's out of the gate and halfway around the track already. And how do you actually support our researchers who are doing things &nbsp;at both of our institutions are amazing. I think the world that's facing us is going to be filled with technology and innovation, and we all just have to be a little bit nimble and open to change. 00:12:58:13 - 00:13:20:01 Joanne Conroy, M.D. But you are so well positioned to do that. So we want to thank you for sharing your valuable expertise and insights. You've had a remarkable career and have served in just an incredible array of payment systems that you're perfectly positioned to make a real impact at Banner in the six states that you serve. 00:13:20:05 - 00:13:22:25 Amy Perry I feel fortunate. So thank you. 00:13:22:29 - 00:13:36:14 Joanne Conroy, M.D. Well, thank you for doing everything you do, Amy. And until next time, thank everybody for tuning in. And I look forward to seeing you at next month's leadership dialogue. Have a great day. 00:13:36:17 - 00:13:43:24 Tom Haederle Thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you 00:13:43:26 - 00:13:44:27 Tom Haederle get your podcasts. </details> </div> Mon, 25 Nov 2024 08:53:50 -0600 Data AHA makes recommendations supporting CMS’ proposed MAO data collection and audit protocol /news/headline/2024-11-12-aha-makes-recommendations-supporting-cms-proposed-mao-data-collection-and-audit-protocol The AHA Nov. 11 voiced strong <a href="/lettercomment/2024-11-11-aha-responds-cms-medicare-advantage-data-and-audit-proposed-protocol" target="_blank">support</a> for the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services’ proposed plan for data collection and reporting requirements for Medicare Advantage organizations. In addition, the AHA supports CMS’ proposed audit protocol, which would assess MAO compliance with MA utilization management program requirements codified in the calendar year 2024 MA final rule. &nbsp; The AHA provided detailed comments on the scope and mechanisms for required reporting and identified opportunities to increase public transparency of MAO performance. In addition, the AHA provided specific recommendations to strengthen requirements and reporting related to MAOs’ use of internal coverage criteria, compliance with the two-midnight benchmark and access to post-acute care — where hospitals and health systems report the greatest challenges and concerns with MA practices diverging from Medicare rules and requirements. AHA also identified other priority areas warranting increased oversight, including MAO requests for additional documentation, peer-to-peer requests, member appeals and business practices of third-party vendors. Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:34:48 -0600 Data CMS Releases Interpretive Guidance on Hospital Respiratory Data Condition of Participation /special-bulletin/2024-10-23-cms-releases-interpretive-guidance-hospital-respiratory-data-condition-participation <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8">The Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday released interpretive <a href="https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-25-05-hospitals-cahs.pdf">guidance</a> providing additional details for the hospital respiratory data condition of participation (CoP). The new CoP, which takes effect on Nov. 1, requires all Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) (other than inpatient psychiatric hospitals (IPFs), inpatient rehabilitation hospitals (IRFs), and distinct part unit psychiatric hospitals and rehabilitation hospitals) to electronically submit certain COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) weekly. This includes data on confirmed infections of COVID-19, influenza and RSV among hospitalized patients, hospital bed census and capacity, and limited patient demographic information. IPFs, IRFs, psychiatric hospital distinct part units, and rehabilitation hospital distinct part units will report once — annually — beginning in January 2025.This guidance also outlines CMS’s multi-step notification and enforcement process and describes additional data elements to be reported during a public health emergency (PHE).<h2>KEY HIGHLIGHTS</h2><ul><li>Most Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals and CAHs will begin submitting weekly data reports related to COVID-19, influenza and RSV for the week beginning on Nov. 3.</li><li>IRFs and IPFs (including distinct part unit IRFs and IPFs) will begin reporting once — annually — in January 2025.</li><li>Hospitals will report the data using the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), and CMS instructs hospitals to follow the reporting protocols provided by the CDC.</li><li>Hospitals will have two options for reporting data — “daily” reporting, in which hospitals submit reports containing daily data values for the previous week, or a “weekly” option, in which hospitals submit cumulative weekly totals of new admissions for COVID-19, influenza and RSV along with one-day-per-week snapshots of other data. Regardless of the option hospitals choose, the data must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. PT every Tuesday.</li><li>Compliance will be assessed based on 28-day periods covering four reporting weeks. The CDC will provide CMS with reports detailing the timeliness and completeness of reports submitted each 28 days.</li><li>Hospitals and CAHs that do not comply with the requirements will receive a series of incomplete reporting notification letters. Continued non-compliance may result in termination of the provider’s participation in the Medicare program.</li></ul>Reporting Processes.&nbsp;Hospitals will have two options for submitting data into NHSN once per week, thereby fulfilling the requirements of the CoP. The reporting week is defined as Sunday through Saturday, with the first reporting week starting Sunday, Nov. 3, and ending Saturday, Nov. 10.<ul><li>Daily Reporting.&nbsp;Under this option, hospitals and CAHs must electronically submit daily values for all data fields weekly to the CDC through the NHSN system.</li><li>Weekly Reporting. Under this option, hospitals would report new admissions of patients with confirmed respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19, influenza and RSV, as cumulative weekly totals by age group, instead of submitting data for each weekday. Other data elements (e.g., staffed bed capacity and occupancy) should be reported as one-day-a-week snapshots. The NHSN protocol indicates that the snapshot day should be the Wednesday of the reporting week. For example, for the reporting week starting Sunday, Nov. 3, hospitals should report data from Wednesday, Nov. 6.</li></ul>The NHSN <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/psc/hospital-respiratory-reporting.html">website</a> includes a reporting <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/pdfs/pscmanual/HRD-Protocol-Final.pdf">protocol</a> and other information describing the reporting process and data elements in detail. For the weekly reporting option, the reporting protocol and website also describe which data elements should be reported as cumulative weekly totals or snapshots.Notification and Enforcement Process for Non-Compliance.&nbsp;CMS will assess compliance with the new CoP over 28-day periods covering four reporting weeks. Following the fourth submission for each 28 days, the CDC will provide CMS with a report detailing the timeliness and completeness of submissions made during each such period. Hospitals and CAHs that fail to submit complete and timely reports will receive an incomplete reporting notification letter from CMS. Continued non-compliance will be followed with additional notification letters and may lead to enforcement action against the hospital or CAH.For the first reporting period in November 2024, hospitals and CAHs that have not demonstrated compliance with the new requirements will receive an initial warning letter explaining the reporting requirements and process, along with CDC contact information for the hospital or CAH to request technical assistance. This letter will only be used for the first month of reporting under the new CoP.For hospitals and CAHs that have not met the reporting requirements in subsequent 28-day periods, CMS will issue a series of notification letters that may be followed by enforcement action against the provider.<ol><li>For the first 28-day period a hospital or CAH does not demonstrate compliance, CMS will issue an initial warning letter notifying providers that they will have the next 28-day period to demonstrate complete and timely reporting of the specified data elements.</li><li>Failure to demonstrate compliance during a second subsequent reporting period will result in a second warning letter issued by CMS.</li><li>Failure to demonstrate compliance during a third subsequent reporting period will result in a third warning letter issued by CMS.</li><li>Failure to demonstrate compliance during a fourth subsequent reporting period will result in a final warning letter issued by CMS. This final letter will also notify providers that failure to demonstrate compliance in the 30 days following the issuance of this letter may result in the termination of the provider’s Medicare agreement.</li></ol>Providers subject to termination of their Medicare agreement may appeal the determination in accordance with part 498 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations. Providers terminated for failure to report that submit a new application for initial certification to participate in the Medicare program will be subject to a 30-day reasonable assurance period. If a provider believes they have received a warning letter in error, the provider may submit evidence of complete reporting to the CDC within five business days of receipt of the letter.Additional Reporting During a PHE.&nbsp;In the event a national, state or local PHE is declared for an acute infectious illness, hospitals and CAHs will be required to electronically submit additional data elements to the CDC through the NHSN system. These elements include facility structure and infrastructure operational status, such as hospital or emergency department diversion status, staffing or supply shortages, and medical countermeasures and therapeutics, as applicable.<h2>FURTHER QUESTIONS</h2>The CDC’s reporting protocol, data collection forms and fact sheets, and other training materials and resources are available on the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/psc/hospital-respiratory-reporting.html">CDC hospital respiratory data website</a>. Hospitals may send questions to <a href="mailto:NHSN@cdc.gov">NHSN@cdc.gov</a> using the subject line “Hospital Respiratory Data.”If you have further questions, please contact Adrienne Thomas, AHA’s senior associate director for standards and care delivery, at <a href="mailto:athomas@aha.org">athomas@aha.org</a>, or Akin Demehin, AHA’s senior director of quality and patient safety policy at <a href="mailto:ademehin@aha.org">ademehin@aha.org</a>.</div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/system/files/media/file/2024/10/cms-releases-interpretive-guidance-on-hospital-respiratory-data-condition-of-participation-bulletin-10-23-2024.pdf"><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/cover-cms-releases-interpretive-guidance-on-hospital-respiratory-data-condition-of-participation-bulletin-10-23-2024.png" data-entity-uuid="c7b1fa90-a6a6-4ce0-b4fd-68bbe461c669" data-entity-type="file" alt="Image Special Bulletin: CMS Releases Interpretive Guidance on Hospital Respiratory Data Condition of Participation" width="640" height="834"></a></div></div></div> Wed, 23 Oct 2024 15:14:04 -0500 Data REP-EQUITY Toolkit Checklist /node/694241 Checklist to help researchers move towards representative and equitable inclusion in clinical research. Tue, 09 Jul 2024 11:42:58 -0500 Data