Our February Health Tech meeting focused on the regulations released on January 13, 2010 to implement HITECH provisions of the Stimulus Bill (ARRA) relating to such issues as meaningful use standards, HIT incentive payments, privacy, and some provisions relating to certification of HIT.
Douglas Grimm and David Main of Pillsbury, joined by others in the group such as Suniti Ponkshe, consultant to the Office of the National Coordinator, provided us with a basic briefing on these regulations in order to identify and discuss some key issues they raise, and opportunities to comment on the regulations in the 60 day period following their release.
In addition, we had a presentation from one of our members, Doug Young of Iowa Foundation for Medical Care (IFMC), which is one of the leading organizations in the nation on Medicare quality management. IFMC briefed us on a range of related activities in which they are involved, including promotion of the use of HIT, value-based purchasing, public and quality reporting initiatives, comparative effectiveness, and population and patient self-management.
Both presentations led to a very active discussion by the group.
Presentations of the speakers are attached.