Dear WEDI Members,
What a pleasure it was to host so many of you at our National Conference in Arlington this month! I enjoy every opportunity to talk with each of you about the challenges around realizing the true efficiencies and innovations that can be found in health IT, and how certain policies and initiatives are impacting your organizations. Together with all stakeholders at the table, we can spark change and work to build a better system. I hope to see all of our members and more new faces at the Spring Conference in beautiful La Jolla, California. Mark your calendars now to join us May 20-23, as our staff and education committee are already hard at work bringing in the most impactful and influential speakers of our industry.
We have no shortage of important activities underway by our organization and Workgroups and have outlined a number of those in this newsletter. Should you have any questions or be looking for ways in which you can be involved, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re always happy to have more active members join our Workgroups and Subworkgroups to share their expertise and contribute to the furthering of our mission.
—
Charles Stellar
, WEDI President & CEO
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The WEDI 2018 National Conference just wrapped, and we hope that each of you in attendance took away key insights and perspectives that will impact your business. WEDI prides itself on being the collective voice of the health care data exchange industry, and as such sought to bring health care’s most prominent voices together for an exciting few days of educational sessions and networking events. Together we looked at the future challenges of health care in such arenas as value-based care, administrative simplification, patient matching, data exchange, claims attachments, prior authorization, telehealth, artificial intelligence, blockchain and more. It is an event that those interested in improving the efficiency of health IT within the industry year after year attend, and we thank you! You can also see a live recap of the event by following the
@WEDIonline Twitter page or the hashtag
#WEDINational. Softheon also posted detailed recaps of
We hope you all also join us in May for the Spring Conference. Make your plans to attend!
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On Day 2 of the WEDI National Conference 2018, WEDI honored health IT industry leaders through its annual awards program. Congratulations to all of our recipients!
“The WEDI Board of Directors is privileged with the opportunity to recognize those individuals and organizations leading the charge in making impactful advances for our health IT industry each year,” said Charles W. Stellar, president and CEO of WEDI. “We had no shortage of incredibly worthy nominees, and we are grateful for each of these individual’s and organization’s dedication, commitment and tireless efforts toward advancing efficiency in healthcare through the use of information technology. Congratulations to all the 2018 award winners, and we thank you for your unwavering support.”
- Andrew H. Melczer Leadership in Volunteerism Award – Pam Grosze of PNC Bank
- Chair’s Award – Jay Eisenstock, WEDI chair-elect and Gail Kocher, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
- Excellence in Health IT Award – Softheon
- HIT Government Champion Award – Monica Kay, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Louis W. Sullivan Award – Steven Posnack, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
- Outstanding Corporate Leadership Award – American Dental Association.
- Outstanding Leadership Award – Alison Armstrong, Anthem BC of California; Donna Campbell, Health Care Service Corporation; Evelyn Semataska, Aetna; Lisa Savicki, Jopari; Doreen Espinoza, DE Consulting; Chris Muschong, Kunz, Leigh & Associates; Rose Hodges, Aetna
- Volunteer Service Award – Susan Brousseau, BCBS of Minnesota; Mike Denison, Change Healthcare; Michelle Barry, Availity
- Distinguished Service Award – Tom Meyers, America's Health Insurance Plans; Ed Hafner, Change Healthcare; Laurie Burckhardt, WPS Insurance; Pam Grosze, PNC Bank
- Outstanding Corporate Sponsor Award – Edifecs
More information on the particular awards and the 2018 recipients can be found in this
press release.
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Please take part and join us for an important interactive WEDI forum on Wednesday, November 7th in Washington, DC on the future of administrative transactions. This forum will convene to discuss and formulate WEDI’s recommendations to the National Committee for Vital and Health Statistics on the
NCVHS Predictability Roadmap
draft for Improving Health Care System Efficiency by Accelerating the Update, Adoption, and Use of Administrative Standards and Operating Rules. The goal of the NCVHS Roadmap aims to provide reasonable solutions having specific and incremental impacts for the benefit of health plans, providers and clearinghouses on the future of administrative transactions.
WEDI PAG attendees will be encouraged to provide input on the framework for WEDI’s formal recommendations to be submitted in writing to NCVHS at the NCVHS Standards Committee hearing on December 12-13th. WEDI members attending the WEDI PAG meeting on November 7th are encouraged to provide input and are also eligible to vote at the proceedings of the PAG.
Take an active role in the future of administrative transactions by registering and joining us at the WEDI PAG on Wednesday, November 7th from 10am-4pm in Washington, DC. Our location is adjacent to Union Station and steps away from the US Capitol and timed to allow flying in and out for this event.
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NCVHS Predictability Roadmap Webinar
Tuesday, October 30, 2018 (2:00-3:00 p.m. ET)
WEDI will convene a Policy Advisory Group (PAG) on November 7th to discuss and formulate WEDI’s recommendations to the National Committee for Vital and Health Statistics on the NCVHS Predictability Roadmap draft for Improving Health Care System Efficiency by Accelerating the Update, Adoption, and Use of Administrative Standards and Operating Rules.
WEDI is hosting this
FREE for members
webinar before the PAG so that everyone has a firm understanding of the NCVHS Predictability Roadmap. Non-members are also welcome to attend for a cost of $199.
Related Files:
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835 Balancing Webinar
Monday, November 5, 2018 (11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET)
Join us for a
FREE for members
webinar providing education and guidance to payers and providers on requirements within the 835 for financial balancing. This would include the transaction requirements for balancing, CAQH CORE operating rule requirements, relationship between the 835 and the paper remittance, and relationship between the 835 and the EFT / payment. Non-members are also welcome to attend for a cost of $199.
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Earlier this month
,
we announced the release of two key industry white papers – each focusing on key issues impacting the current health care climate – precision medicine and electronic payment security.
According to the paper: “Those who take on this project must understand issues from clinical workflow concerns, to information privacy, security and consent-to-share data requirements. In addition, for real value to be achieved, a comprehensive provider and patient education program should be offered.” The paper concludes by telling health systems looking to develop or expand a clinical genomics program that “facing these issues in a logical, systematic exploration, with the deployment of the necessary resources, should be the principal focus, and lead to success. For lasting success, always put the patient in the center of the process - no matter its focus (research, longitudinal care coordination, cost, data access, education and quality care).”
In addition to the genomics white paper, WEDI also released “
Best Practices for EFT Enrollment Security
,” which addresses concerns specifically related to security for the administrative processes of enrollment for EFT payments for health care claims. Written by the WEDI Remittance Advice & Payment Subworkgroup, the report offers best practices as well as industry enrollment activities and tools that protect the security of all entities involved in Electronic Funds Transfer Enrollment.
The 23-page document explores how the use of electronic payments provides initial and ongoing benefits to both the provider and the payer, stating “In order to fully realize the benefits, both providers and payers must ensure the security and reliability of the information being exchanged. Once enrollment has been completed and EFT is implemented, manual processes and costs for paper and mailing can be eliminated and the benefits of automation can be increased.”
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“The WEDI Board of Directors represents a diverse cross-section of the industry including payers, providers, government regulators and industry vendors,” said Charles W. Stellar, president and CEO of WEDI. “This group of executives will strategically drive the organization’s endeavors to promote the use of health IT in improving healthcare information exchange – enhancing quality of care, improving efficiency and reducing costs.”
- Matthew Albright, Zelis Healthcare
- Suzanne Lestina, American Hospital Association
- Rick A. Moore, NCQA
- Bryan Morgenthaler, United Healthcare
- Sandra Stuart, Kaiser Permanente
Re-elected board members include:
- Pam Grosze, PNC Bank
- David Haugen, Minnesota Department of Health
- Scott Herbst, Availity
- Gail Kocher, BCBS Association
- Thomas Meyers, America’s Health Insurance Plans
- Jean Narcisi, American Dental Association
- Teresa Rivera, Utah Health Information Network
- Nancy Spector, American Medical Association (chair-elect)
For more information on the full list of standing and appointed WEDI Board of Directors, visit the
WEDI website
.
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Following a series of engaging conversations at the Spring WEDI conference around women in healthcare, we established a WEDI Women in Health IT (WWHIT) group which also met at the WEDI National Conference a few weeks ago for an engaging networking breakfast. The purpose of WWHIT is to foster relationships and promote the advancement of women across the healthcare industry and provide the setting for a host of opportunities to engage with fellow group members including:
- Mentoring Program
- Listserv to help coordinate and communicate: [email protected]
- Discussion-based webinars at least every other month
- Special events provided at WEDI conferences
- Provide recommendations for programming at conferences
- WWHIT features on wedi.org
- Workspace with discussion topics and resources in the iMeet Workplace just for our group
- Connect with other women’s groups including business, government relations and other resource sources
Interested in joining the WWHIT workgroup? Contact Samantha Hovey at
[email protected]
.
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All of our workgroups have special projects and activities underway,
here’s just a brief highlight of current happenings:
The
Claim Status Subworkgroup has released a brief survey with the goal to increase the effective use, implementation and adoption of the Claim Status transaction. The subworkgroup will analyze the responses with the intent to educate the industry with a White Paper that will support greater adoption of the transaction. You can
take the survey by
clicking here
.
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Health Plans/Systems
Technology Solutions/Vendors
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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].
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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.
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