Member Newsletter

August 25, 2022

Previous Editions

Overview of Federal Updates

CMS Posts New No Surprises Act Dispute Resolution Resources.
CMS Issues Roadmap for Ending PHE.
CMS to Host National Stakeholder Call on the Inflation Reduction Act.
CMS Discontinuing Use of Certain Certificates of Medical Necessity and Durable Medical Equipment Information Forms.
CMS Applies EUC MIPS Policy for Parts of Kentucky in Response to Flooding.
RCE Releases Draft TEFCA Resources for Information Blocking Compliance.
Congressmen Call on HHS to Protect Against Cyber-Attacks.
FBI and CISA Issue Advisory for Zeppelin Ransomware.
ONC Details how a University’s Health Equity Dashboard Can Identify Disparities in ED care.
HL7 Names Da Vinci Community Champions.

Download the Federal Update curated by WEDI Federal Affairs staff

FBI, CISA Warn of Zeppelin Ransomware Targeting Healthcare

The Joint Cybersecurity Advisory about the ransomware-as-a-service variant comes as Capitol Hill leaders are asking HHS to boost its efforts to protect hospitals and public health systems from cyberattacks.

FBI and CISA officials said healthcare and other organizations should take common-sense steps to reduce the risk of adverse effects from Zeppelin ransomware.

They advise:

Implementing a recovery plan to maintain and retain multiple copies of important data and servers in a physically separate, segmented and secure location
Requiring all accounts with password logins to comply with NIST standards for developing and managing password policies.
Requiring administrator credentials to install software.
Requiring multifactor authentication "for all services to the extent possible, particularly for webmail, virtual private networks, and accounts that access critical systems."
Recommend disabling command-line and scripting activities and permissions.

Read the FBI/CISA Joint Advisory

Did you know WEDI is on YouTube?

Health Care Price Transparency and the No Surprises Act Summit

Deep-Learning Model Predicts Physician Burnout Using EHR Logs

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have developed a deep-learning model that can predict physician burnout using clinical actions and timestamps from EHR logs.

Physician burnout is a huge challenge for many health systems, with one 2018 report indicating that 83 percent of clinicians and healthcare leadership see it as a problem in their organizations. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, burnout has grown, and its related costs have increased.

Researchers previously used surveys to evaluate burnout, which created additional burden. Chenyang Lu, PhD, a professor of computer science and engineering who led the study said, “If we could predict burnout based on this information readily available in the electronic health record, our model could be deployed in most hospitals and predict physician burnout in an unobtrusive and timely fashion.”

Learn More

MaineGeneral Hits Congestive Heart Failure Readmission Rate of 0% Using RPM

MaineGeneral Health in Augusta had high, rising readmission rates for congestive heart failure. In January 2020, the organization launched a remote patient monitoring pilot, working with vendor Health Recovery Solutions to monitor CHF patients after discharge from the hospital.

The program has grown from 25 to 225 patients. MaineGeneral Health was awarded $603,315 from the FCC to fund the project.

Full Summary

Upcoming Events

Virtual Spotlight - The Value and Future of Telehealth

September 21

WEDI is proud to support the second-annual Telehealth Awareness Week presented by the American Telemedicine Association! Telehealth plays a critical role in supporting access to safe, quality healthcare services for diverse communities of patients and providers. Register to learn more about the growing trend toward digital health and telehealth policy updates!

Virtual Spotlight - Healthy Mothers: Addressing Algorithmic Bias (and More) in Maternal Health

September 27

The U.S. has the worst maternal health rating among all developed countries and data confirms significantly higher pregnancy-related mortality ratios among Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native women. Part of the problem is that scientifically inaccurate stereotypes are perpetuated in tools currently used in obstetric clinical decision making (i.e.VBAC calculator). Register for this webinar to learn about the intricacies of the maternal health crisis, insights from AI, new technologies and solutions.

Virtual Spotlight Series: Operating Rules Upda tes with CAQH CORE

October 6

CAQH CORE requested a review from NCVHS of a set of new and updated operating rules for federal adoption. Register to learn from CAQH CORE about their recommendations, what it means moving forward for health care administrative transactions, and share your perspectives regarding these new proposals.

Virtual Spotlight Series: Standards Updates with NCPDP

October 20

The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) is an ANSI-accredited, standards development organization providing healthcare solutions. Register to provide feedback and learn more about the standards updates from the past year and their 2023 forecast.

WEDI 2022 National Conference

October 25-27

To be held at The American University Washington College of Law

This is a hybrid event, so you will have the opportunity to engage in-person or virtually. If you want to learn about upcoming regulations, standards implementation, and collaborate with colleagues to develop the future of health care data exchange, then register today!

Calendar of Events

September Schedule

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
			1 Property & Casualty	2
5	6 Prior Auth	7 Acknowledgments	8 Claims	9 NSA
12 Remittance Advice & Payment	13	14 Privacy & Security Provider Info	15 Claims Status Emerging Tech	16
19	20 Prior Auth	21 Virtual Spotlight	22 Claims Health Equity	23 NSA
26	27 Virtual Spotlight Genomics Payment Models	28 Telehealth	29	30

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