D.C. Report: ONC Looking to Create New Health IT and ACO Subcommittee

CIOs Offer Perspectives during Washington Forums Addressing separate audiences this week, Bill Spooner and Michael Martz shared their organizations’ experiences on topics ranging from balancing innovation in patient care with budget constraints to the challenges of achieving Meaningful Use.  As a panelist in the Technology Crossroads Conference for the session on C-Suite challenges, Sharp Healthcare Senior VP and CIO Bill Spooner described how C-suite planning must juggle many priorities, including the internal factors of upgrading clinical systems and assuring patient privacy to external environmental factors.  Technology Crossroads, sponsored by the National eHealth Collaborative, focused on the intersection of HIT and digital media.  CHIME served as a cosponsor. 

Before a separate audience on Capitol Hill, Meadville Medical Center CIO Michael Martz noted that Meadville attested for Stage I in May, which occurred amidst 30 simultaneous projects for the hospital and 24 additional projects for clinics and practices. He said certain elements came easily – vital signs, lab tests, med list and problem lists, while others posed major challenges, including multiple loosely-integrated systems, CPOE and quality measures.  Martz responded to questions from an audience that included House and Senate health staff, health IT reporters and HIT industry representatives attending “Moving toward the Electronic Exchange of Health Information: The Status of Meaningful Use Efforts” sponsored by the e-Health Policy Institute.  Other speakers included ONC’s Mat Kendall and Peter Shin from the Community Health Foundation.