In the beginning of March, AHCA along with eight other organizations representing long term and post-acute (LTPAC) settings, submitted a letter to the Congressional Healthy Future Task Force Modernization Subcommittee in response to Request for Information (RFI). In the letter, the organizations applaud the committee’s commitment to work together to improve digital modernization efforts in the United States healthcare system and urged that LTPAC be part of the solutions as the committee looks towards lessons learned during the COVID-19 public health crisis and how to safeguard the nation’s most vulnerable beneficiaries.
The coalition letter emphasized that:
“The time is ripe to address the root cause of the challenge: all the programs authorized and funded under the Health Information Technology for Economic Clinical Health (HITECH) Act excluded LTPAC providers…Interoperable health IT technology is foundational and a key enabler of other innovations, including wearable health and wellness devices, telehealth, and other models to come.”
The coalition letter also proposed two specific legislative solutions that would help achieve the vision of the HITECH Act in advancing care, including:
- Authorize funding for LTPAC providers to adopt interoperable HIT with a focus on patient care and safety, including infection control and prevention.
- Direct funding to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to ensure proper bidirectional interoperability between acute care (e.g. hospitals and physicians), LTPAC providers and other ancillary providers (e.g. therapy, pharmacy, etc.). Resources would support the implementation, use, and sustainability of interoperable EHRs, infection and electronic clinical surveillance technology.