[{"innerBlocks":[],"name":"core\/freeform","postId":1054,"blockType":{"name":"core\/freeform","keywords":[],"attributes":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"providesContext":[],"usesContext":[],"selectors":[],"supports":{"className":false,"customClassName":false,"reusable":false},"styles":[],"variations":[],"apiVersion":3,"title":"Classic","description":"Use the classic WordPress editor.","category":"text"},"originalContent":"Technology alone will not improve healthcare outcomes or reduce costs if the industry doesn\u2019t openly share data and pricing information, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

\u201cWhat we need is a healthcare system that allows the free flow of data and price information, that pays for providers to discover and implement treatments based on all of that data and keeps the patient at the center of that process,\u201d Azar told a Boston audience on Tuesday at the World Medical Innovation Forum, hosted by Partners HealthCare. \u201cSuch a system will finally deliver American patients the affordability they need, the options and control they want and the quality they deserve.\u201d

To help curb growing healthcare costs and to promote competition, Azar made that case that both patients and providers should be able to require pricing information to make informed care decisions.

\u201cThat\u2019s why this administration has already taken historic steps around price transparency, including requiring hospitals to post their price lists in a machine-readable format online for the first time and proposing to require the disclosure of prescription drugs\u2019 list prices in television ads,\u201d said Azar.

In addition, starting in 2020, HHS has proposed requiring that Medicare Part D plans \u201cmake available a real-time pharmacy benefit tool\u2014already used in the commercial market\u2014which can provide instant electronic access to the kind of information that patients and physicians find so hard to track down today,\u201d according to Azar.

When it comes to patients accessing their health information, he remarked that few experiences in healthcare are as \u201cdisempowering\u201d as Americans trying to obtain their own medical records.

\u201cWe have already taken major steps to fix this situation by allowing seniors to give private-sector apps access to their Medicare data, and proposing new rules around the interoperability of health information that will ensure patients have seamless access to their own data\u2014at no cost,\u201d added Azar.

The HHS secretary commented that he is a \u201cbig believer\u201d in the promise of artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to turn big data into actionable insights. However, he observed that the lack of health IT interoperability is hampering the healthcare industry\u2019s ability to leverage the \u201cvery rich stew\u201d of valuable data that AI algorithms can leverage.

\u201cWe put out these major rules from the Office of the National Coordinator (for Health IT) and CMS that are part of the whole interoperability and information blocking initiative that we have,\u201d said Azar. \u201cWe want to ensure that the patient owns their information--it\u2019s personal to them, it\u2019s portable with them, and it carries forward.\u201d

Also See<\/b>: CMS, ONC proposed rules press industry to improve interoperability<\/a>

On Monday at the World Medical Innovation Forum, CMS Administrator Seema Verma told the conference that the inability of EHR systems to interoperate is a major obstacle to healthcare innovation.

\u201cWe want to lean into innovation and technology and use that to help find ways to make sure that our healthcare is more efficient,\u201d said Verma. However, she argued that despite the federal government spending $36 billion to foster EHR adoption, the industry has moved from \u201cpaper filing cabinets\u201d for medical records to essentially \u201csilos of patient data that are locked into electronic systems.\u201d

Verma also warned about the negative impact on healthcare innovation because of the lack of competition in the health IT market.

Holding vendors accountable has been a challenge, she said. Healthcare innovators \u201cneed to be able to create their innovations in tandem with the EHR,\u201d Verma added. But, she noted that \u201cthe way EHRs have been adopted in our country\u2014there\u2019s not a whole lot of competition, there\u2019s only a few vendors\u2014and many providers have invested very heavily and so it\u2019s not easy for them to change course.

\u201cI think it\u2019s a problem that we need to address because if we\u2019re going to move forward on innovation and turn the corner on trying to do something about our growing healthcare costs, then part of the solution is bringing innovation,\u201d Verma concluded. \u201cIf the EHR vendors are blocking that and not allowing that to happen, then they\u2019re hurting our country and we need to address that.\u201d","saveContent":"Technology alone will not improve healthcare outcomes or reduce costs if the industry doesn\u2019t openly share data and pricing information, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

\u201cWhat we need is a healthcare system that allows the free flow of data and price information, that pays for providers to discover and implement treatments based on all of that data and keeps the patient at the center of that process,\u201d Azar told a Boston audience on Tuesday at the World Medical Innovation Forum, hosted by Partners HealthCare. \u201cSuch a system will finally deliver American patients the affordability they need, the options and control they want and the quality they deserve.\u201d

To help curb growing healthcare costs and to promote competition, Azar made that case that both patients and providers should be able to require pricing information to make informed care decisions.

\u201cThat\u2019s why this administration has already taken historic steps around price transparency, including requiring hospitals to post their price lists in a machine-readable format online for the first time and proposing to require the disclosure of prescription drugs\u2019 list prices in television ads,\u201d said Azar.

In addition, starting in 2020, HHS has proposed requiring that Medicare Part D plans \u201cmake available a real-time pharmacy benefit tool\u2014already used in the commercial market\u2014which can provide instant electronic access to the kind of information that patients and physicians find so hard to track down today,\u201d according to Azar.

When it comes to patients accessing their health information, he remarked that few experiences in healthcare are as \u201cdisempowering\u201d as Americans trying to obtain their own medical records.

\u201cWe have already taken major steps to fix this situation by allowing seniors to give private-sector apps access to their Medicare data, and proposing new rules around the interoperability of health information that will ensure patients have seamless access to their own data\u2014at no cost,\u201d added Azar.

The HHS secretary commented that he is a \u201cbig believer\u201d in the promise of artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to turn big data into actionable insights. However, he observed that the lack of health IT interoperability is hampering the healthcare industry\u2019s ability to leverage the \u201cvery rich stew\u201d of valuable data that AI algorithms can leverage.

\u201cWe put out these major rules from the Office of the National Coordinator (for Health IT) and CMS that are part of the whole interoperability and information blocking initiative that we have,\u201d said Azar. \u201cWe want to ensure that the patient owns their information--it\u2019s personal to them, it\u2019s portable with them, and it carries forward.\u201d

Also See<\/b>: CMS, ONC proposed rules press industry to improve interoperability<\/a>

On Monday at the World Medical Innovation Forum, CMS Administrator Seema Verma told the conference that the inability of EHR systems to interoperate is a major obstacle to healthcare innovation.

\u201cWe want to lean into innovation and technology and use that to help find ways to make sure that our healthcare is more efficient,\u201d said Verma. However, she argued that despite the federal government spending $36 billion to foster EHR adoption, the industry has moved from \u201cpaper filing cabinets\u201d for medical records to essentially \u201csilos of patient data that are locked into electronic systems.\u201d

Verma also warned about the negative impact on healthcare innovation because of the lack of competition in the health IT market.

Holding vendors accountable has been a challenge, she said. Healthcare innovators \u201cneed to be able to create their innovations in tandem with the EHR,\u201d Verma added. But, she noted that \u201cthe way EHRs have been adopted in our country\u2014there\u2019s not a whole lot of competition, there\u2019s only a few vendors\u2014and many providers have invested very heavily and so it\u2019s not easy for them to change course.

\u201cI think it\u2019s a problem that we need to address because if we\u2019re going to move forward on innovation and turn the corner on trying to do something about our growing healthcare costs, then part of the solution is bringing innovation,\u201d Verma concluded. \u201cIf the EHR vendors are blocking that and not allowing that to happen, then they\u2019re hurting our country and we need to address that.\u201d","order":0,"get_parent":{},"attributes":[],"attributesType":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"dynamicContent":""}]

Azar: Free flow of data, price info is what healthcare needs

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