The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced yesterday an initiative to improve technological connectivity between Medicaid providers. Long-term care and other sectors that have been slower to adopt emerging technologies will receive funding to help “enhance the sustainability of health information exchanges” and expand the free flow of information between care teams and collaborators.
The initiative outlines three tangible benefits: care coordination, medication reconciliation, and public health reporting. More integrated technology intends to support patients navigating between hospitals, home health, primary care, and pharmacies. In its pursuit of paying for quality over quantity, CMS also expects the initiative to speed the adoption of alternative payment models.
Making the announcement jointly were Karen DeSalvo, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, and Andy Slavitt, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator.
Source: The CMS Blog. Bridging the Healthcare Digital Divide: Improving Connectivity Among Medicaid Providers