HHS, along with the Institute of Medicine (IoM) and other members of the Health Data Consortium, co-hosted the third annual "Datapalooza" focusing on innovative applications and services that harness the power of open data from HHS and other sources to help improve health and health care.
Announcements made at the Forum June 5 include: CMS launched an initiative to transform the agency's approach to data and analytics. The initiative will help guide the agency's evolution from a fee-for-service based payer to a "value-based purchaser of care" that links payments to quality and efficiency of care, rather than sheer volume of services. To lead the initiative, CMS created a new Office of Information Products and Data Analysis, which will strive to make development, management, use, and dissemination of data and information resources a core function of CMS. The announcement builds upon many of the recent advances in data transparency and accessibility achieved by CMS in the past 12 months. Over time, the initiative will modernize CMS' intricate data systems and policies, and help the agency to achieve the greatest improvements in health care delivery. Data and information resources available under CMS' initiative include: § Medicare Geographic Variation Trend Data: A unique data set that leverages nearly 5 billion Medicare claims in an easy-to-use data format that provides key metrics at the state and hospital referral region levels. § Medicare Enrollment Dashboard: An online dashboard that provides a single location with comprehensive statistics on Medicare enrollment (Parts A, B, and D and Medicare Advantage). § Medicare & Medicaid Research Review: A peer-reviewed online journal on current and future directions of the Medicare, Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance. § CMS Data Navigator: A web-based search tool that rapidly connects researchers, policy makers, and the general public to the CMS data resources they need. For more information, view the CMS Fact Sheet<http://www.cms.gov/apps/media/press/factsheet.asp?Counter=4371&intNumPerPage=10&checkDate=&checkKey=&srchType=1&numDays=3500&srchOpt=0&srchData=&keywordType=All&chkNewsType=6&intPage=&showAll=&pYear=&year=&desc=&cboOrder=date>. The Office for the National Coordinator for Health IT has led national competitions toward the creation of easy-to-use, web-based tools that help patients schedule follow-up appointments after being discharged from a hospital stay. In collaboration with the Partnership for Patients, the "Discharge Follow-Up Appointment Challenge" winners were announced: § First place: MyHealthDIRECT, a web-based solution that enables patients and caregivers to search for, book, and confirm appointments and includes reminder and transportation reservation functionality. § Second place: HePak, a tool that integrates appointment-making and reminder functions into its hospital, provider, and patient portals. § Third place: mHealthCoach, a tool that provides calendar syncing and incorporates educational content and HHS data feeds. Also announced was the Blue Button Mash-Up Challenge (submission period ends September 5, 2012). In conjunction with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the HHS Office of the National Coordinator announced the Challenge that builds on the VA's existing Blue Button feature to allow patients to download their health information and share it with health care providers, caregivers and others. The challenge requires the development of a tool that will help individuals to use their health information, combined with other types of information, such as cost data or comparative health data, to better understand their own health status and make more informed decisions regarding their health care. View the complete Press Release<http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/06/20120605a.html> issued June 5. ________________________________ If you know someone who would like to subscribe to a Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) provider listserv, go to http://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/downloads//MailingLists_FactSheet.pdf<http://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/downloads/MailingLists_FactSheet.pdf> . If you would like to unsubscribe from a specific provider listserv, please go to (https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?INDEX) to unsubscribe or to leave the appropriate listserv. Please DO NOT respond to this email. This email is a service of CMS and routed through an electronic mail server to communicate Medicare policy and operational changes and/or updates. Responses to this email are not routed to CMS personnel. Inquiries may be sent by going to (http://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/ContactCMS/index.html). Thank you.
