03 Jul Health IT End-Users Alliance Responds to CMS/ASTP Health Technology Ecosystem RFI
Honorable Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Secretary
US Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC 20407
RE: RIN 0938-AV68, Request for Information; Health Technology Ecosystem
Dear Secretary Kennedy:
The Health IT End-Users Alliance (the Alliance) applauds the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC) for seeking public input on how CMS and ASTP/ONC can best lead infrastructure progress to cultivate the health IT market, increase patient access to digital health tools, and expand the data available for all healthcare stakeholders.
The Alliance brings together health information professionals, physicians, hospitals, and other front-line healthcare providers and organizations that use health IT in the provision of care to ensure that policy and standards development activities reflect the complex web of clinical and operational challenges facing those who use technology tools for care. By working collaboratively across settings of care, the Alliance is focused on advancing end-user perspectives in health IT policy and standards development to support clinical care and operations.
In response to your health technology ecosystem RFI, we have attached our consensus statements on real-world testing and artificial intelligence, as well as our 2024-2027 collaborative roadmap. These documents illustrate the challenges end-users face in the health IT ecosystem and include a series of policy recommendations on how best to improve existing and future health IT policies to realize the opportunities associated with deploying technologies and standards that will minimize administrative burden, reduce costs, create efficiencies, and result in better outcomes for patients. The locations of the documents submitted for response consideration can be found at the links contained within the appendix of this letter and attached.
We thank you again for the opportunity to provide our input on this important set of issues and welcome the opportunity to share more about the Alliance and discuss our work further. We look forward to collaborating with CMS and ASTP/ONC on issues relating to the health technology ecosystem throughout your tenure as Secretary as we seek to end the nation’s chronic disease crisis by leveraging health technology tools and related technical standards.
Appendix:
• Document 1: Real-world Testing Consensus Statement
• Document 2: Artificial Intelligence Consensus Statement
• Document 3: Health IT End-users Alliance 2024-2027 Collaborative Roadmap