Sept. 17, 2021 – CommonWell Health Alliance submitted comments to the RCE on the QHIN Technical Framework Draft V1 as published July 28, 2021. We have always supported a fully connected nationwide ecosystem that links providers of all types and recognize we cannot do this alone. We support the goals and objectives of TEFCA and look forward to being one of, if not the first QHIN recognized in the country. CommonWell Health Alliance is a not-for-profit trade association made of various health IT and health care stakeholders. As a membership-based trade association, we provide an environment to openly work on interoperability improvements across many cornerstones of health care including but not limited to technology companies, payers, State and Federal agencies, providers, clearing houses and patients.  When the Alliance launched eight [...]

Sept.  15, 2021 – On Aug. 13, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the FY 2022 Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) final rule, which takes effect on Oct. 1, 2021.  Included in the rule was a new Health Information Exchange (HIE) Bi-Directional Exchange measure for promoting interoperability in the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, to which eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) would need to attest As described in the included commentary, CommonWell believes providers who are actively utilizing CommonWell services and connecting to the CommonWell network through an approved CommonWell Connected product would meet the attestation requirements of the Health Information Exchange (HIE) Bi-Directional Exchange measure. However, the ultimate determination would need to be made via the CommonWell Service Adopter providing the CommonWell connection [...]

April 15, 2021 – In January 2021, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) published the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) draft v2. As noted in our commentary, CommonWell supports the ONC and its works to improve interoperability in the United States across providers, payers, patients and other stakeholders. We are aligned in the belief that we need standard data formats to accomplish the goal of seamless interoperability in healthcare nationwide. We also included our endorsement of a proposed addition from one of our CommonWell Connected providers - Fresenius Medical Care, a national provider of services and products for patients with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Currently, dialysis information is not well represented in the standard data, and this information can be critical as patients with ESRD encounter [...]

Feb. 1, 2021 - On Dec. 28, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the CY 2021 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final rule, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2021. Included in the rule was a new Health Information Exchange (HIE) Bi-Directional Exchange measure for promoting interoperability in the CMS Quality Payment Program (QPP), to which clinicians would need to attest. As described in the included commentary, CommonWell believes providers who are actively utilizing CommonWell services and connecting to the CommonWell network through an approved CommonWell Connected product would meet the attestation requirements of the Health Information Exchange (HIE) Bi-Directional Exchange measure. However, the ultimate determination would need to be made via the CommonWell Service Adopter providing the clinician their CommonWell connection. Read the full commentary here.

Sept. 4, 2020 – CommonWell Health Alliance submitted comments to the Office of National Coordinator (ONC) at the Department of Health and Human Services regarding its Request for Information on experiences with patient matching. As part of our work as a national network enabling access to patient records for multiple use cases including both providers and patients themselves, CommonWell has come to understand that there are two distinct issues at play when it comes to the problem of patient identity and matching: – first, the need to properly identify that a person is who they claim to be, and second, the need to match a person’s records across systems and to the identity of the person. CommonWell encourages a system that applies a high level of trust to the identity [...]

June 23, 2020 – CommonWell Health Alliance submitted comments to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) regarding its Proposed Rule to amend and update Civil Money Penalty Rules of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), published on April 24, 2020. CommonWell believe the ONC’s Strategic Plan aligns with our mission and vision. In our submission, we provided specific comments surrounding Timing and Effective Dates, recommending the OIG adjust its enforcement timelines to align with the ONC’s Enforcement Discretion Dates and Timeframes, and the Appeals Process, supporting the inclusion of an appeal process. Additionally, we asked for further clarification around certain points pertaining to Violation Definitions and Examples as well as Determinations regarding the Amount of Penalties. Overall, CommonWell remains committed to patient-centric interoperability on a national scale with the [...]