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WEDI Newsletter | August 2018
Executive Corner | See you at WEDI National Conference | Upcoming Webinars
Media Spotlight: WEDI Featured in mHealth Intelligence
Featured Video On Demand | WEDI Welcomes New Members
Workgroup Roundup | Latest Member News
Each month, the Executive Corner provides prominent WEDI leaders an opportunity to share their perspectives on a variety of topics impacting healthcare – from legislative matters and industry events to the headline-grabbing issues of the day.  
Dear WEDI Members,

As the long days of Summer wind down, WEDI is ramping up for an exciting Fall and preparing for our National Conference this October 15-17 in Arlington, Virginia. We have some incredible and insightful speakers lined up who look to collaboratively discuss the critical challenges facing health care – including Don Rucker, M.D., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC); David Muhlestein, PhD, JD, Chief Research Officer of Leavitt Partners; and Jack Lewin, M.D., Board Chair of the National Coalition of Healthcare. I sincerely hope to see so many of our members – as well as new faces – at this year’s event. It will be one for the books – so stay tuned as we continue to announce more details of the sessions and speakers.

And beyond our National Conference, WEDI will be hosting several new webinar series in the months ahead – our organization is committed to offering the most informative and collaborative educational offerings available to our members and the health care IT industry. Below in the newsletter we highlight some of the upcoming webinars available.

Our many Workgroups continue to add extreme value to the industry by providing white papers, webinars, surveys and issue briefs that help member organizations readily adapt to rapidly evolving business environments and regulatory requirements. There will be a number of new documents and educational pieces released this Fall – so please stay tuned. And, we welcome all our members to become involved in one of our Workgroups so that our collective voice can continue to be heard and shape the health IT landscape.

Charles Stellar , WEDI President & CEO
Registration is now open for WEDI National Conference 2018 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va. You will not want to miss this incredible annual event, as it’s proven to be one of our best year-after-year. Hundreds of thought leaders across health IT – including payers, providers, government regulators and vendors – will gather during the three-day event to network and collaborate in sessions focusing on value-based care, administrative simplification, patient matching, data exchange, claims attachments, prior authorization, telehealth, artificial intelligence and blockchain.

“WEDI conferences offer attendees in-depth, educational sessions that raise awareness on key industry issues as well as deliver access to best practices and insights on the latest trends in healthcare information technology,” said Charles W. Stellar, president and CEO of WEDI. “Our National Conference will provide the setting for these high-level discussions with top thought leaders that continue to shape our industry. I’m looking forward to gathering with colleagues in Arlington as we continue WEDI's mission to improve health information exchange by enhancing quality of care, improving efficiency and reducing cost.”

Beyond general sessions featuring some of the top influencers in healthcare, the WEDI National Conference will offer attendees dozens of breakout sessions and educational workshops lead by industry thought-leaders, including:

  • Deploying AI in Healthcare; The Importance of Data Interoperability, Quality and Monitoring – Dr. John Fahrenbach, University of Chicago Medicine
  • Avoiding the Blindspot; Potential Solutions to Patient Matching – Eric Heflin, Sequoia Project
  • How Do We Turn the Corner on Value Based Care? – Dr. Jack Lewin, National Coalition on Healthcare

Additional session topics that will be idea-focused, foster learning and provoke collaboration, include:

  • Real-World Look at Blockchain, It’s Here to Stay
  • Putting Artificial Intelligence to Use in Healthcare
  • Federal Outlook on Healthcare
  • Telehealth Panel: Beyond the Doctor’s Office
  • “FHIR”-side Chat; A Multi-Stakeholder Discussion on The Future of FHIR
  • Telehealth in Action; An Interactive Journey with Telehealth
  • Leveraging Clinical EMR data to Reshape Healthcare; A Case Study
  • Working Together to Find an Answer; A Multi-Stakeholder Look at Patient Matching

A complete conference agenda is available and updated regularly on the WEDI website . The conference is open to all interested healthcare stakeholders across provider, payer, vendor and government entities. Both WEDI members and non-members can register online for the conference with group and early registration discounts available through September 15.
Applied Blockchain 101
Thursday, August 30, 2018 (1:00-2:00 p.m. ET)

Join us for a FREE for members webinar that will take you right into latest exciting use cases of blockchain in the healthcare industry with a focus on trusted interoperable data exchange at high scale and low risk overcoming key challenges of traditional proprietary solution approaches. Questions such as “How to start embracing blockchain without getting locked into proprietary technologies?” or “How to lower our cost of regulatory compliance with blockchain?” and “How to defend our data with blockchain against rapidly growing cyber threats?” will be answered in the spirit of best enterprise business practices with ample time for Q&A.

Speaker: Peter Ebert
Highly experienced software executive applying a unique combination of agile business acumen, design thinking, deep technical proficiency and inspirational leadership. Specialized in enterprise grade blockchain solutions, digital transformation, and mobile/cloud SaaS. Leading sales and business development for Cryptowerk Corp. 
Value-Based Care: A Virtual Panel Discussion
With Industry Thought Leaders
Monday, September 17th (2:00-3:00 ET)

Join WEDI Chair-Elect Jay Eisenstock as he is part of a virtual round table discussion from Answers Media Network on how the industry is doing in its transition to
value-based care, and what lies ahead.

In 2018 the healthcare industry continues to work towards transformation to value-based care. While healthcare organizations, providers and the payer community deal with the myriad of issues in moving past volume-based models, government regulations, the speed of transformation, and implications to the administrative processes, are creating both challenges and opportunities. 
 
The Quality Payment Program under MACRA is also now in its second year of reporting. Providers are anxiously looking to the publication of scores in October, and how these scores may impact both financial health and reputation. 
 
The moderator and panelists will discuss: 
 
  • Progress Made in Value-Based Payment Models In 2018 
  • Where healthcare organizations and providers are making the greatest strides and what are the pitfalls
  • Are providers generally supportive of the shift to value-based care or resistant 
  • What is the growth trajectory for ACOs and other Value Based Payment models
  • How does population health management and social determinants impact value-based care * What is the role of the Payer community in advancing value-based care 
  • Does infrastructure exist to simultaneously support fee for service and value-based contracts * Potential winners and losers in the land of value-based care 
  • Outlook for 2019 and beyond 
 
Moderator: Fred Goldstein, Accountable Health LLC and Host of PopHealth Week
Panelists: 
Jay Eisenstock, Chair-Elect of WEDI 
Timothy Mills, Chief Growth Officer Alpha II 
David Muhlestein, Chief Research Officer at Leavitt Partners
With the gradual adoption of connected health services in the healthcare industry, there’s seemingly no shortage of resource materials for health systems and other sites interested in developing a telehealth or telemedicine program.
Add two more to the list.

The Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP), a California-based coalition of multi-specialty medical groups and health systems, has unveiled “ A Roadmap to Telehealth Adoption: From Vision to Business Model .” Also weighing in is the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), whose telehealth workgroup recently issued a  Telehealth Resource Guide .

To read the full article, visit  mHealthIntelligence.
In this month’s featured video, Jim Connolly, Senior VP, Product Development of Zynx Health describes how WEDI Conferences provide the needed education on legislative drivers and best practices.
Visit the new WEDI Vimeo Channel to view our entire video library!
WEDI has an incredible group of member organizations that recognize the value our organization brings to them professionally, as a company and as an industry advocate. Here are a few of our newest members. Please join us in welcoming them!
Find out more about the value of WEDI Membership .
All of our workgroups have special projects and activities underway, here’s just a brief highlight of a few:

After recently completing a Telehealth Resource Guide, the Telehealth Workgroup is beginning its next work product – a paper looking into the barriers to the adoption of telehealth. Additionally, the workgroup is developing a WEDI Conference Seminar proposal and look forward to providing more details in the near future.

Join the Claim Status SWG Friday, September 7 at Noon ET. Bring examples of your challenging coding claim issues and/or reading/acting upon received coded claim issue messages. On the last call, the subworkgroup examined the education need and impact of missing entity codes and second required claim status code on the provider ability to understand and act upon a claim issue within their workflow.
 
The Claim Status SWG is focused on the exchange of claim status request/response (276/277), the business issues that prevent its adoption and potential ROI savings for both providers and health plans. Attend to share what works and what can be improved to increase the exchange of claim status information that will drive down the need for phone calls. Sign up for the [email protected] and plan to participate in the active discussion on Friday, September 7 at Noon ET.
Health Plans/Systems

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Technology Solutions/Vendors

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

HR Announcements

 
 
If you are a WEDI Corporate Member organization and would like to have your press releases included in a future edition of the WEDI Monthly Newsletter, please email with a link to your press release to [email protected].
The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) is the leading authority on the use of health IT to improve healthcare information exchange in order to enhance the quality of care, improve efficiency and to reduce costs of the American healthcare system. Formed in 1991 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), WEDI was named in the 1996 HIPAA legislation as an advisor to HHS and continues to fulfill that role today.
WEDI | (202) 480-2909 | [email protected] | wedi.org