Company Benefit

Employee Benefit & Consumer Driven Healthcare

Please Share the News & Follow Us.

RSS
Follow by Email
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Tweet
LinkedIn
Share
  • Home
  • News/Articles Library
  • Benefit Plan Types
    • Flexible Benefit, Cafeteria Plans, & Tax Advantaged Plan Options
    • Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs)
    • Health Savings Accounts (HSA) Implementation
    • Commuter Company Benefits
    • Employee Benefit Plan Type Comparison
    • Employer Benefit Plan Eligibility Requirements
  • Contact Us

HHS Secretary Azar touts Trump admin’s digital health response to COVID-19

12/30/2020 By admin

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar this week praised the Trump administration’s technology response to the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting its efforts on data collection, telehealth expansion and more.

During a brief speech Tuesday evening at the HLTH VRTL 2020 conference, Azar highlighted the efforts of HHS to collect data concerning COVID-19 patients and predicted that patients will see telehealth as “a durable and desirable part of their healthcare” in the long term.

In July, HHS triggered concerns among public health experts and “chaos” at hospitals when it directed health systems to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when reporting COVID-19 patient information.

The existing data collection systems at the CDC and state public health departments, said Azar on Tuesday, “have played incredibly important roles … but they couldn’t provide the kind of flexible reporting we needed.”

Azar explained that HHS Protect – the system to which hospitals now report data – stemmed from an effort to take advantage of existing data sets and improve the quality of data in use.

HHS Protect “includes a secure hub for sharing, parsing, housing, tracking and accessing COVID-19 data,” said Azar, and draws on more than 4.5 billion data elements. 

He noted that this past week, HHS had announced new reporting modifications for hospitals that included information about seasonal influenza patients. 

Those requirements came alongside an announcement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that hospitals deemed “noncompliant” with data reporting requirements could eventually put their reimbursements from the federal programs at risk.

American Hospital Association President and CEO Rick Pollack has called the approach “heavy-handed” and said it “could jeopardize access to hospital care for all Americans.”

Azar, meanwhile, pointed out that HHS is working with state and local health information exchanges to encourage reporting to and use of data resources. 

“The long-term vision isn’t just about aggregation and ease of reporting,” he said. “It’s about eliminating reporting entirely by using the data that’s already being generated as part of providers’ clinical workflow.” 

He noted that such a system is feasible, in part, because of the interoperability rules finalized earlier this year – “creating unprecedented opportunities to equip patients with data,” he said.

“Bold thinking that puts patients at the center can feed innovation, from both a provider and system-wide perspective,” said Azar. 

He also cited HHS’ shipment of 150 million rapid coronavirus tests to at-risk communities such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Users can link their test results with an app, and “we’re now working with Abbott and state public health leaders to use this app to facilitate reporting of cases, too.”

Azar pointed to the regulatory flexibilities around telehealth that have eased the way for massive adoption of virtual care across the country.

“We believe patients will start to see [telehealth] as a durable and desirable part of their healthcare experience,” he said.

“The future gold standard of care will integrate both in-person services and telehealth, customized around the patient’s needs and their doctor’s advice, and we’ll need lots of digital health innovation to make that possible,” he added.

Azar pointed to the advancements the digital health industry has made amid – and sometimes in response to – the COVID-19 crisis. 

“Amidst all the pain caused by this pandemic, we’ve seen how innovative American healthcare can be,” he said.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.

Twitter: @kjercich

Email: kjercich@himss.org

Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.

Read More

60

SHARES
facebook Share on Facebook
Twitter Tweet
Follow Connect on LinkedIn
custom Share
custom Share
custom Share
custom Share
custom Share

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Get alerts & updates via. email.
Error occured. Please confirm your data and submit again:
companybenefit.com virus updates

Breaking Health Updates:

UK’s Integumen Unveils Prototype COVID-19 Breath Test

LONDON (Reuters) - Integumen, a British … [More...]

Becton Dickinson Reaches $60 Million Settlement Over Pelvic Mesh Devices

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Becton Dickinson and Co … [More...]

Birx: Not Considering Leaving Coronavirus Task Force

Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news … [More...]

COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES: Kansas reports 262 new cases, while Missouri adds 211 on Wednesday – KMBC Kansas City

The Kansas City metro has emerged from … [More...]

Experts suggest improving ventilation may reduce coronavirus spread – CBS News

A study finds that improving ventilation can … [More...]

All Coronavirus Posts:

Robot That Can Perform ‘Supermicrosurgery’ Passes First Test in Humans – Gizmodo

The MUSA robotic platform, developed by MicroSure. Image: MicroSureA surgical robot capable of reconnecting vessels with diameters as tiny as 0.3 millimeters has been tested on human patients, and the results are promising. New research published in Nature Communications describes MUSA—the first robotic system designed exclusively for performing reconstructive supermicrosurgery. Using the system, surgeons were able to reconnect vessels with diameters between 0.3 and 0.8 … [Read More...]

Updates & Alerts

Get alerts & updates via. email.
Error occured. Please confirm your data and submit again:

Are you Aware of Transit Benefits?

Commuter Company Benefits

Transit / Transportation Company Benefit Up to $260/month* for transit benefit expenses The Commuter Transit Account / Transportation company benefit is a pre-tax benefit account used to pay for public transit—including train, subway, light rail, bus, and ferry—as part of

breakdown of benefit options:

Employee Benefit Plan Type Comparison

Flexible Spending Account, Health Reimbursement Arraignments, & Health Savings Account Comparison The chart below is a brief comparison of the various components of each of these important health care options. Description FSA HRA HSA History IRS Code … more

Savings

Employee Benefits and Tax Savings

Benefit to Employee HOW DOES THE EMPLOYEE BENEFIT? The employee can choose to participate in the plan or not. If the employee participates in the plan part of his/her taxable wage is converted into tax-free benefits. This can be a big tax savings for the employee and … more

Copyright © 2021 · CompanyBenefit.com · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.acceptread more

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy