HCTTF Joins CARIN Alliance Pledge to Support Person-Centered Health IT

Pledge Issued as CMS Administrator Verma Announces HIT Initiatives at 2018 HIMSS Conference

WASHINGTON (March 6, 2018) – The Health Care Transformation Task Force (HCTTF) today joined the CARIN Alliance to pledge support for giving consumers access to their health care information anytime, anywhere via third party applications – regardless of who provides their care or what vendor their provider uses for its electronic health records.

The two bipartisan, multi-sector organizations announced the pledge following remarks by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma to the 2018 HIMSS conference. Verma challenged the industry to develop and implement more open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to allow third-party application access, and announced Medicare demonstration projects compatible with that vision.

“We envision a future where any consumer can choose any application to retrieve both their complete health record and their complete coverage information from any provider or plan in the country,” the CARIN Alliance-HCTTF Pledge states.

HCTTF is a unique consortium of health care payers, providers, purchasers and patient organizations that is a private sector driver, coordinator, and facilitator of delivery system transformation, including the alignment of public and private sector to advance value-based care.  CARIN Alliance unites industry leaders in advancing the adoption of consumer-directed digital health information exchange across the U.S.

“As the CMS administrator pointed out in her speech, value-based care is part of the solution to the rising cost of health care. Yet, we cannot effectively transition to value-based care unless we give both a provider and a patient all clinical and coverage data at the point of care to inform decisions,” said HCTTF Executive Director Jeff Micklos.

The Task Force in 2016 announced a set of principles to ensure consumers priorities remain front and center as the nation transforms to a value-based care system. Three of those principles are relevant in the context of today’s announcement:  1) Include patients/consumers as partners in decision-making at all levels of care; 2) Deliver person-centered care; and 3) Accelerate use of person-centered health information technology.

The CARIN Alliance is focused on eliminating the technology, policy, and cultural barriers to person-centered health IT. “The Task Force is pleased to lend its voice to CARIN’s leadership effort, and we look forward to working alongside CMS to achieve this vision,” Micklos said.

ABOUT HEALTH CARE TRANSFORMATION TASK FORCE

Health Care Transformation Task Force is a unique collaboration of patients, payers, providers and purchasers working to lead a sweeping transformation of the health care system. By transitioning to value-based models that support the Triple Aim of better health, better care and lower costs, the Task Force is committed to accelerating the transformation to value in health care. For more information, please contact us at www.hcttf.org.

ABOUT CARIN

The CARIN Alliance is a bi-partisan, multi-sector alliance convened by David Blumenthal, David Brailer, Aneesh Chopra, and former HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, to unite industry leaders in advancing the adoption of consumer-directed exchange across the U.S.  Working collaboratively with government leaders, the group seeks to rapidly advance the ability for consumers and their authorized caregivers to easily get, use, and share their digital health information when, where, and how they want to achieve their goals.   For more information, please contact the Alliance at www.carinalliance.com or on Twitter at @carinalliance

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