CHIME's comments to Senate Chronic Care Working Group focus on care coordination, telehealth
The Senate Finance Committee Work Group on Chronic Care should foster policies that bolster care coordination and telehealth services in the treatment of patients with chronic conditions, according to comments submitted by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME).
Health IT must be foundational to the delivery of patient care, especially those with chronic conditions, CHIME said.
"A high degree of data fluidity is imperative to reducing waste and improving quality within the U.S. healthcare system," according to the professional association. "CHIME calls on the committee to pursue policies with the intent to increase the exchange of health data, facilitating the compilation of a longitudinal healthcare record, to enable informed decision making for providers and patients alike."
CHIME also encouraged the committee to rethink how federal programs define, reimburse and license providers for the delivery of telehealth services, citing that while technical challenges exist, the need to expand the use and availability of telehealth has become a top priority for the nation's CIOs and senior health IT leaders.
The organization urged the committee to incorporate comprehensive patient education resources as telehealth services become standard in care plans for patients with chronic conditions. "Telehealth instruction for both providers and patients should involve formal and comprehensive education," CHIME said. "Telehealth policies should include patient (and family) access to appropriate and comprehensive patient education resources to increase both the quality and specificity of information exchanged with providers."
CHIME recommended that the committee evaluate the role of the Meaningful Use program in the delivery of patient care and to work with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to ensure the health IT products certified to meet regulated specifications are able to facilitate the capture, exchange and use of data.
Read the complete letter.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.