The Collective Voice of Health IT, A WEDI Podcast

From a recent WEDI Health Equity Workgroup meeting, we welcome Tammy Weaver, VP Physician Professional Data with the American Medical Association

From WEDI's 2023 Spring Conference, 4 patient advocate professionals discuss how regulations and innovation are affecting patients. How close is the work of payers, providers and vendors to achieving "patient nirvana". Panelists: Andrew Scholnick (AARP), Melissa Williams (National Patient Advocate Foundation), Anna Hyde (Arthritis Foundation), Dr. Nicole Purcell (Alzheimer's Association). The moderator was patient advocate, influencer, and host of the HITea podcast, Grace Vinton.

From the WEDI Archives: Dr. Steve Waldren, Vice President and Chief Medical Informatics Officer of the American Academy of Family Physicians discusses how AAFP's Innovation Lab has embraced the power of artificial intelligence to aid their physicians with numerous functions and processes.

Matthew has a great conversation with Aaron Patzer, founder of AI-based health care company Vital about how artificial intelligence is quickly evolving in the industry. The former founder of Mint.com discusses AI's benefits, challenges and considerations as the emerging technology plans to redefine the patient experience.

In June, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new primary care model – the Making Care Primary (MCP) Model – that will be tested under the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in eight states. We welcome CMS Deputy Administrator and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Director Dr. Liz Fowler to discuss the Making Care Primary Model, the process in developing the model, and it's connections with health equity.

Matthew chats with Derrick Higgins, Head of Enterprise Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Health Care Service Corporation (BCBS of Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas). Derrick discusses how his organization is leveraging artificial intelligence, his thoughts on future applications, and federal government role in AI governance.

From WEDI's 2023 Spring Conference. The Health Care Payment and Learning and Action Network (HCPLAN) established the Health Equity Advisory Team (HEAT) to help identify and prioritize opportunities to advance health equity through alternative payment models (APMs). The HEAT’s goal is person-centered and focuses on leveraging APMs to help make needed care more accessible, drive better patient outcomes, and reduce disparities. We welcomed HEAT's co-chairs, Dr Marshall Chin from the University of Chicago and Karen Dales from Amerihealth Caritas to discuss the group's work and their mission to address and eliminate health disparities while identifying payment models that aid communities. The session was moderated by Michael Pattwell from Edifecs who also serves as WEDI's Payment Model Workgroup Co-Chair.

From WEDI's 2023 Spring Conference, Michael and WEDI Board Chair Ed Hafner chats with Jonathan Burow, VP Customer Experience and Digital Transformation with Independent Health. Jonathan discusses best practices for measuring customer satisfaction across product lines and engagement channels including call, chat, website and app.

The concept of intersectionality describes the ways in which systems of inequality based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class and other forms of discrimination “intersect” to create unique dynamics and effects. Regarding healthcare, collecting data on intersectional social factors like race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation can help identify disparities experienced by specific populations in order to develop initiatives that target community’s needs thus yielding (hopefully) positive health outcomes. Matthew speaks with 4medica President Gregg Church on how incorporating intersectionality and Social determinants of health (SDOH), healthcare systems can improve the quality of data used to address health equity.

Michael welcomes Scott Gray, CEO of Clincierge, a patient concierge services provider in clinical trials. The two discuss the current state regarding diversity in clinical trials and how the need for minority participation can help serve a more accurate, realistic population, establish trust between patients and providers, and improve the patient experience.

From WEDI's recent Spring Conference, a conversation on the importance of data, partnership, and health equity buy-in and bake-in with prominent health equity leadership from UnitedHealth Group and Mayo Clinic. U. Michael Currie, Chief Health Equity Officer, UnitedHealth Group Adam Milam, MD, PhD, Medical Director, Office of Health Equity and Inclusion, Mayo Clinic Ajay Jayakumar, Director, Strategy and Analytics Diversity Science, Mayo Clinic Marquita Davis, Enterprise Director, Office of Health Equity and Inclusion, Mayo Clinic

Responding to the commonwealth's public health and workforce needs, George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) launched the first and only College of Public Health in Virginia. Michael chats with Dr. Melissa Perry, Dean of the College, on her early motivations and inspirations, the school's importance in teaching, learning, innovation and community involvement and its importance to the state's future health.

This is an excerpt from a discussion from WEDI's Health Equity Forum earlier this year on how payers are leveraging data to address health disparities, prevent disease and promote health and digital literacy. His guests are Dan Rivas, Senior Manager at Blue Shield California and Kurt Johnson, Vice President Operations with UnitedHealth Group.

We chat with Elevance Health Chief Technology Officer Geeta Wilson about how her company is embracing artificial intelligence to improve and enhance the patient experience.

To commemorate our 100th episode, WEDI welcomes our founder, former HHS Secretary Dr. Louis Sullivan. 30 years ago, Dr. Sullivan founded WEDI in an effort to identify opportunities to improve the efficiency of health care data exchange. After 3 decades, we ask Dr. Sullivan if the industry is on the right path, his thoughts on improving health equity in the country and how can organizations like WEDI continue the good fight toward reducing burden and establishing more efficient data exchange. Purchase Dr Sullivan's book, "We'll Fight It Out Here: A History of the Ongoing Struggle for Health Equity", co authored by Dr. David Chanoff, on Amazon

Michael spends some time with Kristy Dickinson, founder of Chronically Simple, a healthcare app that hopes to end the fragmented healthcare experience and allows patients and caregivers to proactively manage their health data. Find out about Chronically Simple on the app store or visit https://www.chronicallysimple.com/

This week we hear from Angie Bass, Chief Strategy Officer with Velatura Public Benefit Corporation, an industry leader in providing HIT and HIE consulting, development, implementation and operation services across the nation. Angie offers insight on Health Data Utilities (HDUs), the differences between HDUs and HIEs, and why it's the next step towards interoperability and better public health.

A WEDI Spotlight from December 2022 featured a panel of health care cybersecurity SMEs discussing how to strengthen cybersecurity in the industry. The panelists: Denise Anderson, President and CEO, H-ISAC, Chris Lodico, Sr Director, Information Safety, HCSC, Dr. Stephen Leffler, President and COO, and Dr. Douglas Gentile, Sr VP Information Technology, both with the University of Vermont Medical Health Network

WEDI's continues to discuss the real world experiences regarding telehealth this week. We welcome Jill Dominic, Public Policy Director with Elevance Health and the co-chair for WEDI's Telehealth Workgroup. Joining Jill is Samantha Holvey, WEDI's Director of Workgroups & Communication and Robert Tennant, WEDI's Vice President of Federal Affairs.

Millions of patients nationwide embraced the benefits of virtual health over the past 4 years. Telehealth is poised top play a large role in the coming years. In conjunction with WEDI's Telehealth Workgroup, we welcome WEDI leadership to share their unique experiences with telehealth. This week, Ed Hafner, WEDI's board chair and Nancy Spector, WEDI's most recent former board chair visit the podcast. Ed is the Associate VP, Payer Strategy with Change Healthcare and Nancy is the Coding and HIT Advocacy Director with the American Medical Association.

In a season of "Raining Regulations" our attention turns to data exchange initiatives from the state level that sometimes occur in spite of or in absence of federal initiatives. Matthew speaks with David Haugen, Administrative Simplification Program Director with Minnesota's Department of Health (https://www.health.state.mn.us/facilities/ehealth/auc/index.html) and Denny Brennan, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (www.mahealthdata.org). The 3 discuss the significance of state data exchange operations, the importance of states learning from each other, the huge topic of prior authorization and how focusing on the patient can help "stabilize the stool" that is healthcare data interoperability.

Matthew welcomes back Arrive Health CEO Kyle Kiser to the podcast to discuss the latest at Arrive Health, an industry leader in delivering real-time cost and coverage data to decision-making workflows. Kyle discusses how working with multiple stakeholders help drive quality, make the best, cost efficient decision and increase patient satisfaction and engagement.

Michael sits down and chats with Tim Noonan, Deputy Director for Health Information Privacy, Data and Cybersecurity at HHS' Office for Civil Rights (OCR). What are some common trends and deficiencies that OCR confronts in their investigations? Why the increase in cyber attacks on business associates and what resources and guidance (spoiler alert: there are plenty) does OCR have available to aid in keeping healthcare entities safe and secure?

Michael sits in for Matthew and welcomes Dave Bennett, CEO of pCare, a leading provider of patient engagement solutions for health systems across the country. The two discuss the changing tone and climate of patient experiences and how Dave and pCare has leveraged technology and innovation to develop a truly remarkable hospital room of the future.

Matthew welcomes HL7 CEO Dr. Charles Jaffe and Deputy Standards Chief Implementation Officer Diego Kaminker. With FHIR seemingly on the lips of every health IT professional, Matthew asks the two about FHIR's history, its multiple accelerators and how the standard is looking to be the key to unlocking data exchange for healthcare throughout the world.

Michael speaks with Ron Emerson, Global Healthcare Lead at Zoom. Recognized as a thought leader in Telehealth, Ron has more than 20 years' experience in the healthcare industry having worked on a number of Telemedicine programs in nearly 50 countries. The two discuss Zoom being in the healthcare arena and the future of telehealth.

This week, Michael welcomes Julie Rezek, CEO of Advata. Advata provides advanced data analytics software to improve decision-making and optimize administrative efficiencies in healthcare. The company's revenue cycle management solutions are powered by predictive analytics, actionable artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process automation. What is the present and future of data analytics in healthcare and how can it remain responsible while also changing the way the industry manages inefficiencies and increases productivity

Data breaches from healthcare vendors, which are considered “business associates" under HHS’ Office of Civil Rights breach portal have grown over the past 5 years, including 116 reported business associate breaches since November 2022 which have affected over 17 million patients. Michael chats with Phil Englert, Director of Medical Device Security for the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (H-ISAC) about the industry's concerns regarding security concerns with third party vendors and medical devices. Learn more about H-ISAC at www.h-isac.org

Matthew speaks with Ed Hafner, Chair of WEDI's Board of Directors and AVP Payer Strategy-Medical Network with Change Healthcare, and Robert Tennant, Vice President, Federal Affairs with WEDI. The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) Standards Subcommittee hearing took place Jan.18 & 19, examining the new and updated transaction standards and operating rules. Robert testified on behalf of WEDI, presenting the feedback the association received from its Member Position Advisory (MPA) session in late 2022. The first day focused on the X12 proposal to move to the 008020 version of the Dental, Institutional, and Professional Claim (837) and the 008020 version of Health Care Claim Payment/Advice (835). Day two included the CAQH CORE proposal to move to updated and new operating rules. Learn more about WEDI's MPA here- https://www.wedi.org/2023/01/20/wedi-testimony-ncvhs-x12-caqh-core-hearing/ Learn more about NCVHS' Hearings here- https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/meetings/standards-subcommittee-hearing/

Matthew chats with Matt McBride, Co-Founder and CEO of Mend (Mend.com) a patient engagement and telehealth platform designed to help healthcare organizations scale their practice and care for more patients. Matt discusses the change in telehealth usage over the past several years and how healthcare must continue to evolve and incorporate emerging technologies to offer patient a more seamless, efficient, equitable and satisfying experience.

From WEDI's National Conference this past October in Washington DC, Civitas Networks for Health's CEO Lisa Bari hosts an engaging panel on the power of Health Information Exchanges with Nichole Sweeney, General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer for CRISP and Elizabeth Killingsworth. General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer for Manifest Medex. Learn more about HIEs and Civitas Networks for Health at https://www.civitasforhealth.org/

Matthew talks about the importance of data with Epic's Phil Lindemann, VP of Business Intelligence and Dave Little, MD, Clinical Informaticist. Epic manages electronic health records for more than 250 million patients and is now expanding clinical trials by kicking off a Life Sciences program to help speed up the development of new therapies. Providers across the world use Epic to conduct more than 100,000 active research studies with 4.7 million patients. Additionally, they discuss the importance of companies providing data for the greater good of Americans' lives. Large data sets like Epics’ Cosmos can provide health officials with the data needed to enact changes. This allows doctors to learn from thousands of other hospitals and support researched-health needs like adverse trends in healthcare and outbreak detection. Learn more about Epic's work below epic.com epicresearch.org epicshare.org Here’s a link to a fentanyl study referenced in the episode : Only 5% of Overdose Patients Tested for Fentanyl, #1 Killer of Americans 18-45 (epicresearch.org)

Michael chats with Durwin Day, Health Information Manager with Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). Durwin also is a long standing member of WEDI's Board of Directors and is the co-chair of its Attachments Subworkgroup. Durwin offers his initial thoughts on the PA and Attachments proposed rules, the role of FHIR and a glimpse into the potential discussions that will take place during his Attachments Subworkgroup meetings. If you are a WEDI member, participation in any workgroup meeting is a benefit you should take advantage of. If you are not a member, visit wedi.org to learn more about the association.

This episode is part of Telehealth Awareness Week, #TelehealthisHealth Michael has a fascinating conversation with Cloud DX CEO Robert Kaul. Cloud DX is working on developing healthcare within the relatively new and mysterious metaverse, which consists of virtual and augmented reality experiences that we haven't even begun to scrap the surface of. Additionally, the two discuss the role of remote patient monitoring and how it can improve access to care for the chronically ill and those living in rural regions.

WEDI is a proud partner for Telehealth Awareness Week #TelehealthisHealth To commemorate Telehealth Awareness Week, Matthew sits down with Robin Farmanfarmaian, a professional speaker and healthcare entrepreneur working with cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence Software, Device and Pharma companies poised to impact 100M patients. Within these companies, she focuses on strategy, business development, revenue and fundraising. Robin's latest book, "How AI can Democratize Healthcare; Shifting Care from the Clinic to the Point of the Patient", is available this month at https://democratizinghealthcare.ai/ . Learn more about Robin at https://www.robinff.com/ Matthew and Robin discuss the trend in healthcare away from in-person care to at-home delivery, behavioral health, virtual therapeutics and remote patient monitoring.

This episode is sponsored by MCG. MCG artificial intelligence and technology solutions, infused with this objective clinical expertise, enable hospitals, health plans, TPAs, and government agencies to prioritize and simplify their workflow. Matthew chats with Zack Kimble, Staff Data Scientist for MCG Health about various levels of artificial intelligence that MCG is working on, including machine learning and natural language processing. How is AI aiding healthcare in prioritizing utilization reviews, support appropriate level of care, determine appropriate clinical documentation and so much more.

This episode is sponsored by Avaneer Health Matthew discusses data liquidity and the need for improve healthcare efficiency with Avaneer Health Chief Commercial Officer Ray Jebsen. In 2019, Avaneer Health was founded by a consortium of top industry leaders on a mission to unlock the full potential of healthcare by improving transparency and enhancing interoperability. The consortium included Aetna, a CVS Health company; Anthem; Cleveland Clinic; Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company (HCSC); The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.; and Sentara Healthcare. Incorporated in 2020 as the Health Utility Network, they are now known as Avaneer Health. With continuing support from their partners and the biggest players across the healthcare space, Avaneer aims to play a key role in transforming how the healthcare industry operates to address consumers' needs more efficiently and effectively Learn more at https://avaneerhealth.com/

Matthew welcomes Heather McComas, Director, Administrative Simplification Initiatives and Tyler Scheid, Senior Policy Analyst with the American Medical Association to discuss findings from the AMA's recent prior authorization survey. Heather and Tyler address the AMA's advocacy on AMA, the survey results and more. Helpful links: Prior Authorization and Utilization Management Principles: https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/principles-with-signatory-page-for-slsc.pdf Consensus Statement on Improving the PA Process: https://edhub.ama-assn.org/data/multimedia/10.1001ama.2018.0080supp1.pdf 2021 AMA Prior Authorization Physician Survey- Wave 1: https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/prior-authorization-survey.pdf 2021 AMA Prior Authorization Physician Survey- Measuring Progress in Improving PA: https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/prior-authorization-reform-progress-update.pdf

The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) Standards Subcommittee held a Listening Session June 9 on Standardization of Information for Burden Reduction and Post-Pandemic America “Convergence 2.0.” The Subcommittee conducted three panels: (i) Advance HIPAA Standards Adoption; (ii) Address Standards Integration and Collaboration; and (iii) Measure the Value of Standards. WEDI Board Chair Nancy Spector represented WEDI on the first panel and joins Matthew this week to discuss more about WEDI's suggestions on when electronic standards should be adopted by the industry

The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) Standards Subcommittee held a Listening Session June 9 on Standardization of Information for Burden Reduction and Post-Pandemic America “Convergence 2.0.” The Subcommittee conducted three panels: (i) Advance HIPAA Standards Adoption; (ii) Address Standards Integration and Collaboration; and (iii) Measure the Value of Standards. WEDI Board Chair-Elect Ed Hafner (Assistant VP of Payer Strategy, Medical Network, Change Healthcare) represented WEDI on the third panel. Matthew chats with Ed on his participation at the listening session and the future of healthcare standards.

Matthew welcomes Steven Kupferman, DMD, MD, the Co-founder and Chairman of MedVA.com a premier healthcare Virtual Assistance Service, designed to improve patient care within thriving medical and dental practices. Dr. Kupferman discusses how virtual assistants support staffing shortages and administrative burden while also adhering to privacy and security policies.

We chat with Unmesh Srivastava, Chief Technology & Digital Innovation Officer with Clever Care Health Plan. Unmesh covers a great deal of topics, including how technology in health care is affecting health equity, value based care and the "digital divide". A engaging conversation with a true subject matter expert sharing his insight on how technology is growing and changing the way we address and will address healthcare in the country.

WEDI Education Director Michael McNutt sits in for Matthew and chats with Denis O'Shea, founder of Mobile Mentor, a global leader in endpoint ecosystem, helping clients navigate the right balance between security and employee experience. The pandemic has changed the landscape and ushered in a new level of remote working. The two discuss the changes in remote working over the past 2 years, how it has affected healthcare data security and how the industry's youngest employees, Generation Z, may hold the secret to how employers need to evolve their policies on privacy and security. Read Mobile Mentor's study here, Healthcare Endpoint Ecosystem Study — The Endpoint Ecosystem

Matthew speaks with Paddy Padmanabhan, award-winning business leader, entrepreneur and best-selling author Paddy Padmanabhan, CEO of Damo Consulting. The two discuss what healthcare orgs should be prioritizing regarding digital health transformation, creating a frictionless digital health experience for all parties and assessing digital maturity in an organization.

Matthew has a fantastic conversation with Kendal Whitlock, Chair of Product Development and Clinical Research for the Med Tech Color Collaborative Community. MedTech Color has convened this Collaborative Community to create a forum where medtech professionals and other stakeholders can address minority health issues in medical device product development and clinical research. The community develops strategies, resources, best practices and thought leadership to increase awareness and mitigate the impacts of unconscious bias, social determinants of health and lack of inclusion or consideration of racial and ethnic minorities in critical aspects of the product development lifecycle. Learn more at MedTech Color Collaborative Community

Matthew welcomes Kimberly Lomis, MD, vice president of undergraduate medical innovations at the American Medical Association. Dr Lomis participated in a National Academy of Medicine Discussion Paper titled Artificial Intelligence in Health Professions Education. The paper examines how training in appropriate use of AI will become increasingly important for health professions educators, and highlights AI’s ability to supplement, not replace, health care workers. Read the paper here- Artificial Intelligence for Health Professions Educators - National Academy of Medicine (nam.edu) and learn more about the AMA's guidance and resources on Artificial Intelligence here- Augmented intelligence in medicine | American Medical Association (ama-assn.org)

Guest host Ferris Taylor of HCEG welcomes Matt Parker, Senior Vice President of Product for HealthSparq and Denny Brennan, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC) for an in-depth discussion on aspects of the No Surprises Act and the price transparency and coverage rule. The two shared perspective on the pressure and timing with respect to machine readable files, the challenges organizations face in complying with the requirements, and what issues are their constituents seeing and encountering

Matthew welcomes Holly Varnell of SERA Prognostics and Dr Sharon Hibay of Advanced Health Outcomes. To learn more about prenatal advancements discussed in this podcast, click here: PreTRM® Based on data from the World Health Organization, the US is #6 on the list of countries with the highest pre-term birth (PTB) rates. That places the US higher than Bangladesh and lower than Indonesia. The top 4 countries with highest PTB rates are India, China, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Our guests discuss advancements in prenatal early intervention to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes of preterm births. Holly and Dr Hibay introduced the DREAM BIG (DRiving Equity for All Moms & Babies by Improving Gaps) in Maternal Care Initiative.

Matthew chats with founder and host of the HIT (Health IT) Like a Girl podcast Joy Rios (https://www.hitlikeagirlpod.com/). The podcast's mission is to celebrate women leaders in healthcare and health IT. They advocate for and create more paths to leadership positions for girls and young women to follow. Joy will be a special moderator at our Spotlight on Leveraging Data and Technology to Support Health Equity, taking place February 16-17 on Zoom. Register at wedi.org and use the special code HITGIRL for 25% off your registration rate.

Many employers have heard of blockchain technology but have no idea what this terms means or how it can apply to data privacy and healthcare. Phillip Bauknight, a partner with Fisher & Phillips and Chair of its Cryptocurrency and Blockchain's Task Force, provides an easy understandable introduction to blockchain and breaks down ways that healthcare organizations can utilize blockchain and the potential implementation challenges.