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CMS Looking to Close Tech Gaps With DPC

Published on Thu Nov 07, 2019

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New pilot will zoom in on providers’ access to data.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is getting ready to launch another program to share beneficiary information.

CMS administrator Seema Verma announced the release of a pilot program, Data at the Point of Care (DPC), at the BlueButton 2.0 Conference.

Get Ready for Greater Access

The DPC program is intended to bridge the communication gaps in technology used by clinicians and other healthcare practitioners by using claims data to populate information for beneficiaries, right into the health record workflow.

“The DPC pilot program will transform healthcare delivery by leveraging Medicare’s Blue Button data to provide clinicians with access to claims data. The claims data will fill in information gaps for clinicians, giving them a more structured and complete patient history with information like previous diagnoses, past procedures, and medication lists,” CMS says in a press release.

The program, which providers may opt in to, but beneficiaries must opt-out of, will be tied to payment.

“One of our key focuses is on innovative payments that align financial incentives for providers to deliver efficient, high quality care. When providers have a responsibility for managing care and their reimbursement is tied to results instead of volume of services, they will find innovative ways to keep people healthy, prevent disease, lower costs, and improve health outcomes. Changing the way we pay providers will also allow patients to seek high value care,” Verma said in the announcement speech.

She says that this move will force resourcefulness on the part of providers while avoiding costing the government more money or costing citizens more money in taxes.

The program is tied to prior pushes for more ease of use via electronic health records (EHR). Verma lamented that even though the Trump Administration spent $36 billion in encouraging the adoption of EHR, the U.S. healthcare system still uses fax machines.

“The sharing of data and interoperability underpin this entire move to value in healthcare and innovation. Without access to their own data, patients lack the information—and therefore the power and ability—to shop around for services,” Verma says.

CMS Promises to Focus on Confidentiality

Verma did not mention who else may be privy to the release of data — and whether anyone could pay for access.

“But we know that with access to data comes threats to security and privacy, and we’re looking at ways to enhance Blue Button 2.0 to ensure patient confidentiality,” Verma said, adding that the current health privacy regulations do not extend to most applications (apps), which could become increasingly problematic as patient data is stored and shared there.

“Clinicians who are interested in participating in the DPC pilot program can sign up by visiting: dpc.cms.gov. Beneficiaries who wish to opt out of data sharing can do so by calling 1-800-Medicare,” CMS says.