This month’s edition of Health Policy News focuses on opportunities to leverage electronic health tools to improve healthcare delivery. We feature an article prepared by a collective of our subject matter experts that explores the trend of Health Information Exchanges forming multi-state alliances and consortiums and considers the benefits and risks of doing so.
Additionally, HPN digs into the use of digital tools to enhance behavioral health integration, providing an overview and findings from a recent report of the American Medical Association.
Also related to addressing the nation’s behavioral health crisis, our final article focuses on the new comprehensive plan released earlier this month by the Biden Administration.
Stay tuned this spring as we provide more updates on COVID-19 and continue to explore the widespread impacts of the pandemic. We also continue to await final Exchange guidance for plan year 2023 and will bring you updates when it is released.
As always, if you have any questions or would like to learn more about the topics featured this month, email us at healthpolicynews@pcgus.com.
The Rising Trend of Multi-State Affiliations of Health Information Exchanges—What is the Best Model for Your HIE?
One of the latest trends in health information exchange (HIE) development is multi-state affiliations. Some states have joined forces with other states, sharing HIE infrastructure, data, and strategies. With Connecticut becoming the 46th state to launch a statewide HIE in May 2021, the next frontier for many states may be affiliating with other states’ HIEs. Some states have already seen their HIEs affiliate with other states, including Maryland, Arizona, and Alaska. As states look for ways to balance their HIE budgets with the expiration of Health Information for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act funds, cutting costs by affiliating with other states may become an attractive option. With the importance of HIE infrastructure and data sharing highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, could multi-state affiliations be the future of HIEs? PCG’s Health Innovation, Policy, and Information Technology (HIPIT) team published an article outlining information about multi-state HIE affiliations, including benefits and risks. To read it, click here.
The American Medical Association releases a Report Urging Healthcare Stakeholders to Enhance Behavioral Health Integration through Digital Tools
The American Medical Association (AMA) released a report defining opportunities to incorporate technology to advance behavioral health integration (BHI) and outlining a framework to measure BHI models. Behavioral health conditions among Americans have worsened over the last several decades, a challenge that has only been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic and the long-standing shortage of behavioral health providers. As the report explores, BHI is essential to solving the nation’s growing behavioral health crisis, and the current evolution towards digitally-enabled care models presents an opportunity to enhance the effectiveness of BHI. To learn more about this opportunity and the AMA’s goals for advancing BHI through digital tools, click here.
Federal Behavioral Health Plan Released
This month, the Biden administration released a plan for tackling the nationwide behavioral health crisis. The challenges with behavioral health are not new, but have only worsened during the now two-year COVID-19 pandemic, with self-reporting of behavioral health concerns at an all-time high. In his first State of the Union address, President Biden outlined a plan for addressing this crisis, and more detailed information has since been released. To learn more about the President’s plan and its key pillars of strengthening the capacity of the behavioral health care system, improving access to care, and creating a continuum of support, click here.
