Federal Affairs Update — State of the Union and More

President Donald J. Trump delivered his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, Feb. 5, and focused primarily on non-healthcare related issues, but he did raise the topic of healthcare in several parts of his speech. President Trump discussed how he campaigned on several issues, including to reduce the price of healthcare and prescription drugs, and to protect patients with pre-existing conditions. He also cited his work to confront the opioid crisis and address issues facing our nation’s veterans. The President’s address was followed by the Democratic response from former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

On Monday, January 28, HIMSS collaborated with the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) on a joint letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Donald Rucker, MD, on the Strategy on Reducing Burden Relating to the Use of Health IT and EHRs. HIMSS and AMDIS offered feedback that focused on ideas to help reduce the burdens placed on clinicians — as time and attention clinicians spend on burden resolution is time and attention diverted from patient care.

In addition, HIMSS and AMDIS want clinicians to be able to focus their time on actions that make sense, such as caring for patients and delivering better outcomes. The organizations want to help CMS and ONC reduce burden so that practitioners can deliver better and more efficient care.

For the upcoming HIMSS19 Global Conference & Exhibition, we are excited to welcome CMS Administrator Verma, National Coordinator Dr. Rucker, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Director Adam Boehler, Defense Health Agency (DHA) Chief Information Officer Pat Flanders, and Major General (Dr.) Lee E. Payne, Assistant Director for Combat Support Agency at DHA, along with many other federal and state government officials. Our government-related sessions will be compelling, and we encourage attendees to also visit our Federal Health IT Solutions Pavilion to learn about the federal agencies with health IT portfolios and hear about the resources that they have available.