Former Governors Douglas, Geringer: States to Transform Care Through HIT

Douglas, Jim and Jim Geringer. "Former Governors Douglas, Geringer: States to Transform Care Through HIT." Government Health IT, June 11, 2012.

From the blog: "During this week’s opening of the HIMSS Government Health IT Conference and Exhibition in Washington D.C., Governor Jim Douglas released the Roundtable’s first report States Will Transform Healthcare through Health IT and HIE Organizations. Our report opens with a historical snapshot of health IT legislation and an overview of innovative and collaborative state initiatives. Critical challenges faced by states are recognized and supported with recommendations for meeting them.

1. States should continue to leverage their state-level HIE and state level health IT infrastructure in new and innovative ways. Close working partnerships between State governmental entities, federally supported RECs, Beacon Communities, Medicaid Offices, Professional Trade Associations and HIMSS National and local Chapters will expedite the implementation of health IT in the States.
2. Health IT transcends political lines and should be on the federal and state agendas over the next several years in order to continue the current momentum and improvement of care quality and healthcare spending.
3. Encourage states to facilitate, engage and educate patients and consumers with the delivery of their healthcare services and promote overall increase in health literacy. The delivery of high quality healthcare requires patient participation and shared decision making in which the patient, families and providers use the most effective steps to improve healthcare outcomes. Population Health Literacy is the essential first step in maximizing improvements in healthcare.
4. Health IT is a necessary and vital precursor to a lot of the other healthcare reform actions that are contemplated by both private payers and public payers both at the state and federal level.
5. State-level HIEs need to be prepared to shift their business models as Federal and State health reform policies continue to shift from fee-for-service to pay-for-quality models in order to develop and maintain sustainability. “Health Information Exchange” will likely need to shift to “Health Care Coordination Facilitation.”
6. Better coordination between and among federal agencies and state health agencies to ensure the value of state-level HIEs and funding sources are aligned to ensure success." Read more

See also

States Will Transform Healthcare through Health IT and HIE Organizations, a report from

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, 2012.