Health Innovation Alliance Priorities
Health Innovation Alliance is committed to a bold agenda for change in 2022 and beyond, including:
Interoperability
Health Innovation Alliance holds a Congressional briefing entitled, "Interoperability in Practice: How to Integrate Pharmacy and Medical Care to Improve Patient Outcomes."
While nearly all U.S. health care providers have implemented an EHR system, only 41 percent can send, receive, find, and integrate information the way consumers expect of other industries. Further, 32 percent of individuals who went to a doctor in the past 12 months reported experiencing a gap in information exchange. This has led to clinical and administrative inefficiencies, high-cost implementation for industry, provider burnout, and consumer confusion. We will continue to lead the fight promote interoperability, stamp out information blocking, promote open APIs, and reduce needless burdens on providers and developers.
MODERNIZE PATIENT PRIVACY
Guest speakers at a Health Innovation Alliance briefing share with Congressional staffers about barriers to optimal health data use.
The technology needed to improve connectivity in our healthcare system already exists. Innovators and entrepreneurs and ready, willing, and able to deploy their talents in this industry. This is not a technology or an innovation problem: it is a consequence of the outdated HIPAA privacy law and other regulations conceived before the digital age. The Health Innovation Alliance will fight to ensure HIPAA modernization is included in any consumer data privacy legislation to empower patients, better protect and encourage the meaningful sharing of data.
HIA has worked closely with Congressional staff to craft the Health Data Use and Privacy Commission Act which would establish a commission to study health data use and privacy protection.
MORE VALUE, BETTER ACCESS TO CARE
Health Innovation Alliance’s Joel White speaks at a Congressional round table on the importance of telehealth as Rep. Ann Kuster (D-NH) looks on (far left).
Most federal health programs continue to pay for care based on volume of services, not its value. And while consumers are accustomed to on-demand access to information and services, less than 1 percent of federal dollars are spent on telehealth or remote access to healthcare. Payment and delivery reforms that empower individuals to receive care on their own terms, regardless of setting, by the most appropriate healthcare practitioner, at the best available cost should be enacted.
View HIA’s telehealth priorities HERE.
STREAMLINE FEDERAL REGULATION, REDUCE PROVIDER BURDEN
Members of Health Innovation Alliance join with the Bipartisan Policy Center and ONC Coordinator Don Rucker to present a new study on the role of government in health IT and digital health.
There are many overlapping or conflicting laws that govern healthcare technology. This has led to wide-ranging consequences where providers are spending nearly 40 percent of their time on data entry instead of caring for patients. At the same time, regulation and approval processes slow down the adoption and use of digital health and innovative healthcare technologies. An agile regulatory framework that quickly approves, covers and reimburses for innovative products is needed to ensure the best outcomes for patients, taxpayers and healthcare providers.
LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY TO FIGHT THE OPIOID CRISIS
Health Innovation Alliance recognized lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-WV) at its annual Health IT Pioneer awards for their work on the opioid crisis.
Health Innovation Alliance members are united in support of policies that will address the opioid epidemic, including modernizing prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), breaking down the electronic wall between patients’ substance use history and the rest of their medical record, and reimbursing for technology-enabled treatment options.