Spotlight

2023 Quality Conference Presentations

Thank you to everyone who participated in CMS’ 2023 Quality Conference. If you weren’t able to attend, or would like to view a session again, below are links to recordings of the five sessions conducted on the topic of Burden Reduction.

• Leveraging Standardized Functional Status and Cognitive Data to Inform Care Coordination Across the Health Care Ecosystem
• Make Your Voice Heard Request for Information RFI – Insights and Key Findings
• Promoting Evidence-Informed Policy Analyzing Changes in Burden from CMS Rulemaking
• Stamping Out Stigma Through Partnerships, Communities And Education
• Provider Experience Survey on Telehealth and the Collection of Social Determinants of Health Data

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Behavioral Health Customer Engagement

CMS recently released three new illustrations as part of our Behavioral Health Customer Engagement, which we began in February of 2022. The scope of our research was to understand the barriers to accessing services for people with Substance Use Disorders (SUD) along the journey of prevention, treatment, and recovery. We were also interested in effective management of pain and mental health conditions. CMS’ Office of Burden Reduction and Health Informatics spoke with 108 individuals through interviews and site visits, including individuals with Substance Use Disorder, care team members, and advocates, as well as researchers in academia.

The first illustration is the Story of Sam, which focuses on individual with Substance Use Disorder. We highlight what keeps them motivated and on track to reach their goals. Following Sam’s story, we can better understand someone’s experience as they move through their substance use recovery process.

Pathways to Recovery focuses on the support team, and how to support someone who is starting their journey to recovery. Support teams are critically important to meet people where they are and to let them know they have options. The journey to recovery is not the same for everyone.

Finally, the Beacon of Hope illustration focuses on the overall healthcare system. There are challenges one may encounter on their journey to recovery, but a supportive and effective healthcare system can contribute to successful outcomes.

This work contributes to CMS’ Behavioral Health Strategy, which seeks to remove barriers to care and services, and to adopt a data-informed approach to evaluate our behavioral health programs and policies. The CMS Behavioral Health Strategy will strive to support a person’s whole emotional and mental well-being and promotes person-centered behavioral health care.

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Registration for the 4th Annual CMS HL7® FHIR® CONNECTATHON is Now Open

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proud to again bring stakeholders together virtually for the 4^th annual CMS HL7® FHIR® Connectathon on July 18-20, 2023.

Join developers, programmers, technology experts, analysts, and CMS colleagues to learn about and test emerging Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and supporting FHIR Implementation Guides (IGs) at the 2023 CMS and HL7 FHIR Connectathon.

To register for this event, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/center-for-medicare-and-medicaid-services-and-hl7-fhir-connectathon-tickets-627386478847. Registration will remain open until June 30, 2023.

To learn more about the event and ways to participate, please visit the 2023 July Connectathon Confluence page, or contact: CMSHealthInformaticsandInteroperabilityGroup@cms.hhs.gov.

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Make Your Voice Heard RFI Summary: Reducing Burden and Increasing Efficiencies

CMS recently released a summary of the results from its Make Your Voice Heard Request for Information. CMS received more than 900 individual submissions which included over 4,000 comments, and  gained valuable public insight on topics like accessing healthcare and related challenges and the experience of providers delivering healthcare. The shared burdens, thoughtful recommendations, and welcomed insight received from stakeholders will serve to inform our work and better support the populations we serve. Thank you to everyone who took the time to send in their comments. You can find more information on the RFI results by clicking here.

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HHS Proposes to Standardize Electronic Health Care Attachments Transactions and Electronic Signature Processes to Improve the Care Experience for Patients and Providers

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), on behalf of, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), issued the proposed rule, “Adoption of Standards for Health Care Attachments Transactions and Electronic Signatures, and Modification to Referral Certification and Authorization Transaction Standard (CMS-0053-P).” If finalized, the proposed rule, would adopt standards for “health care attachments” transactions, such as medical charts, x-rays, and provider notes that document physician referrals, and office or telemedicine visits. The modifications to the adopted Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) transactions would support both health care claims and prior authorization transactions, standards for electronic signatures to be used in conjunction with health care attachments transactions, and a modification to the standard for the referral certification and authorization transaction. The proposed rule estimates a savings of $454 million annually in administrative costs and is a part of HHS’ and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) ongoing efforts to significantly reduce paperwork burdens and empower health care providers to focus on direct patient care and streamline the care experience for patients and providers.

View the full Press Release

View the Fact Sheet

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