The Latest KHIN News For You

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December 2018

As the holiday season is upon us, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and appreciating all the special relationships that have been fostered. We hope that 2018 has been just as memorable for you, your colleagues, and your loved ones.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you. We look forward to working with you in the years to come.

Happy Holidays,

Your KHIN Team

Saint Luke's Health System Joins KHIN Health Information Exchange to Improve Care Coordination and Patient Experiences

Saint Luke’s Health System is now sending and receiving patient data through the Kansas Health Information Network (KHIN). The faith-based, not-for-profit health system has a significant presence in Kansas and Missouri and includes 16 hospitals and campuses, several primary and specialty care practices, inpatient and outpatient care, home care and hospice, and a life care senior living community.

KHIN Participants Map

Click on Map to find out more about participants across the country.

Saint Luke’s joined KHIN health information organization because of KHIN’s success as one of the longest-established Health Information Exchange in the country and its association with the KAMMCO Network. Working with six other physician-led state HIEs, the KAMMCO network includes SHINE of Missouri, an HIE delivered in partnership with the Missouri State Medical Association.

For a complete listing of KAMMCO Network participants visit: www.kammco.com/healthcare/interoperability/active-hie

Adventist Health System Joins KHIN

Adventist Health System is the newest addition to the list of healthcare participants now sending and receiving patient data through KHIN as part of the KAMMCO Network. The faith-based, not-for-profit Adventist Health System has more than 80,000 skilled and compassionate caregivers in physician practices, hospitals, outpatient clinics, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies and hospice centers across 10 states including Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Minnesota, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia.

Adventist joined the KAMMCO network through the Kansas Health Information Network (KHIN) organization because of KHIN’s success as one of the longest-established HIE’s in the country. The KAMMCO Network also delivers HIE solutions in seven states, including Georgia, South Carolian, Connecticut, New Jersey, Missouri and Louisiana.

KAMMCO Develops New Tool to Assist Healthcare Providers Combatting Opioid Epidemic

Building upon its commitment to quality and patient safety, KAMMCO released a new Opioid/Controlled Substances dashboard for physicians, hospitals and behavioral health providers participating in the the Kansas Health Information Network (KHIN) health information exchange. The tool supplements the existing Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) currently available in most states.

Laura McCrary, Ed.D, Senior Vice President of KAMMCO notes, “The KAMMCO tool builds upon a more comprehensive set of data than the PDMP, which only captures filled prescription data, and does not include medications which are administered to patients in healthcare facilities. The new dashboard provides participating clinicians with the list of opioids/controlled substances prescribed or administered to a clinician’s patients even before a prescription is filled at the pharmacy.”

The tool utilizes data from KHIN and is available to prescribing providers and their designated delegates.

To develop this advanced analytics tool, the KAMMCO Analytics and Business Intelligence team worked with a multi-disciplinary group of Kansas physicians to assess how health information exchange data could better inform physicians regarding their patients’ history of opioid/controlled substance use. The tool allows clinicians to identify individuals in their patient population who received at least one prescription/administration of opioids/controlled substances, by facility and date range up to 12 months, and also displays the top five opioid medications prescribed/administered to their patients.

KHIN provides physicians with access to aggregated clinical data through secure web-based dashboards. Additional analytic dashboards available include: High Risk Patients, 30-Day Readmissions, Disease Registries, Healthcare Utilization, Behavioral Health, Preventive Care Quality Reporting, and Polychronic Conditions. Participants may also request custom ad-hoc reports.

KHIN Assists Members in MIPS Participation

KHIN is heavily invested in ensuring a clear connection is made between KHIN utilization and receiving positive incentives under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Payment Program (QPP) and the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) requirements.

In 2017, high performers who participated in QPP were anticipating a 4% adjustment, which eventually was decreased to 2%. In year one, CMS learned they needed a 60-70% failure rate in order to offer full incentives to high performers. The national average score for MIPS eligible clinicians in 2017 was 74 points. While QPP is a budget-neutral program, 93% of participants earned positive payment adjustments for their performance, compared to just 5% who received negative payment adjustments.

Regarding the QPP Final Rule for Year 3 announced in November, CMS estimates approximately 798,000 clinicians will be MIPS-eligible in the 2019 MIPS performance period, an increase of almost 148,000 providers. CMS estimates MIPS payment adjustments to eligible clinicians will be equally distributed between negative MIPS payment adjustments ($390 million) and positive MIPS payment adjustments ($390 million) to eligible clinicians to ensure budget neutrality as required by statute.

As part of KHIN’s continued commitment to working with members to thrive in MIPS participation, KHIN will assist with: (1) assessing provider eligibility status; (2) identifying and reviewing quality measures; (3) identifying Clinical Improvement Activities; (4) reviewing Promoting Interoperability scores; and (5) determining submission method.

Highlights of the 2019 MIPS program*:

The maximum negative payment adjustment is -7% (the maximum positive payment adjustment generally can be up to 7%).
the small practice bonus will increase (to 6 points), and move to the Quality performance category.
An additional $500 million for exceptional performance is available to eligible clinicians whose final score meets or exceeds the additional performance threshold of 75 points.
CMS implemented a performance threshold of 30 points.
Performance category percentages have changed slightly, and for 2019 will be Quality: 45%, Cost: 15%; Improvement Activities: 15%; and Promoting Interoperability: 25%.
A combination of collection types will be allowed for the Quality performance category.
Data completeness requirements are the same as Year 2 (60% of clinician's or group's patients across all payers for the performance period).
Opportunities to participate are expanding to new eligible provider types, including physical therapists, occupational therapists, qualified speech-language pathologists, qualified audiologists, clinical psychologists, and registered dietitians or nutrition professionals.
An opt-in policy is added to allow some, who otherwise would have been excluded under the low-volume threshold, the option to participate in MIPS Clinicians can opt-in if they meet or exceed at least one, but not all three of the low-volume threshold criteria.

For more information, contact Josh Mosier, KHIN manager of client services at [email protected] .

*Article sources : Review the complete PFS Final Rule and the Year 3 Quality Payment Program policies, by accessing the following resources:

Executive Summary - provides a high-level summary of the Quality Payment Program Year 3 final rule policies.
Fact Sheet - offers an overview of the policies for Year 3 (2019) and compares these policies to the current Year 2 (2018) requirements.

For more information about the Quality Payment Program, please visit: QPP.CMS.GOV.

#FightFlu: National Influenza Vaccination Week, December 2-8

To encourage influenza vaccination and emphasize the seriousness of the flu, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its partners promote the week of December 2-8 as National Influenza Vaccination Week. Started in 2005, the week-long promotion highlights the importance of continuing flu vaccinations through the holiday season and beyond.

Most people who get the flu will recover in a few days to less than two weeks, but some will develop serious complications. During the 2017-2018 flu season, the CDC estimates there were:

49 million flu illnesses - more than the combined populations of Texas and Florida;
960,000 flu hospitalizations - more than the number of staffed hospital beds in the United States; and
79,000 deaths - more than the average number of people who attend the Super Bowl each year.

ECRI Institute Opens Access to Clinical Practice Guidelines

ECRI Institute has launched the ECRI Guidelines Trust, a portal to expertly vetted, evidence-based guideline briefs and scorecards. The healthcare community has free access to the website, which will grow over time as more trustworthy clinical guidelines become available.

ECRI Institute developed the new resource in response to pleas from healthcare professionals after substantial federal funding cuts forced the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to shut down the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC). ECRI had developed and maintained the NGC website for 20 years.

"Trustworthy clinical practice guidelines are essential to medical professionals who need to deliver safe and effective patient care. Since ECRI Institute's mission is to advance effective, evidence-based healthcare globally, we are taking the lead to provide free access to trusted guideline resources," said Marcus Schabacker, MD, president and CEO, ECRI Institute. For information and to register for ECRI Guidelines Trust, visit www.ecri.org/components/GuidelinesTrust/Pages/default.aspx .

New QPP CME Modules, Inforgraphics, and Scoring Guide Now Available

CMS has posted three new continuing medical education (CME) modules on the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) performance categories and MIPS Alternative Payment Models (APMs). The courses may be accessed by logging into one’s Medicare Learning Network account or creating one here.

The new CME modules include: