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Arrival of new HHS healthcare tech boss could augur big changes at ONC
Searchhealthit ^ | 3-30-2017 | Shaun Sutner

Posted on 03/30/2017 1:11:59 PM PDT by spintreebob

President Trump’s appointment of former GOP congressman John Fleming, M.D., to newly created health technology post could portend ONC downsizing and MACRA changes.

The new HHS healthcare technology top official's plans are still unknown, but signs point to possible changes to ONC that could weaken the agency's regulatory authority.

The new HHS healthcare technology chief -- a longtime associate of HHS secretary, fellow physician and former GOP congressman Tom Price -- nonetheless also mentioned that ONC "may be reorganizing."

Few in the capitol, other than his fans, want to comment publicly about what Fleming's ascension to the top HHS healthcare technology post could mean for ONC.

HHS, for example, ignored a SearchHealthIT request to provide a job description for Fleming. And HHS still has not issued a formal statement about Fleming's appointment.

And Fleming, who served four terms in the House before losing in a Republican primary for Senate in Louisiana last year, has remained publicly silent since he took the HHS healthcare job March 21.

But there are more than a few clues as to what could transpire, in Fleming's congressional record. And there are some other circumstantial signals.

Perhaps the biggest puzzle is since there has never been an HHS post with Fleming's title, the development presumably could mean that ONC would not get a national coordinator at all and the whole agency would just be folded more tightly into HHS.

So far, the top ONC position, most recently occupied by former ONC national coordinator Vindell Washington, M.D., has remained unfilled. Maybe it won't get filled.

Or, in the worst case scenario for people who like ONC, the already smallish agency could be radically downsized. A cautionary footnote to that view is that ONC was created by a Republican president, George W. Bush

(Excerpt) Read more at searchhealthit.techtarget.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: deregulation; healthcare; regulation; technology
The author Shaun Sutner asks: Should ONC stay in the health IT certification business and why?
1 posted on 03/30/2017 1:11:59 PM PDT by spintreebob
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To: spintreebob

ONC? MACRA? Definitions please. Even the referenced article doesn’t explain.


2 posted on 03/30/2017 1:16:59 PM PDT by upchuck (U have not lived today until u have done something for someone who can never repay u ~ John Bunyan)
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To: spintreebob

newly created another post ?


3 posted on 03/30/2017 1:20:17 PM PDT by stylin19a (Terrorists - "just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there")
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To: upchuck

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is a staff division of the Office of the Secretary, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Medicare Payment Reform (MACRA)


4 posted on 03/30/2017 1:22:44 PM PDT by Red Badger (Ending a sentence with a preposition is nothing to be afraid of........)
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To: spintreebob

Poorly written article. What is ONC or any of the other govt acronyms that no one knows


5 posted on 03/30/2017 1:55:11 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Red Badger

That tells me nothing


6 posted on 03/30/2017 1:55:56 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Nifster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_National_Coordinator_for_Health_Information_Technology


7 posted on 03/30/2017 1:56:51 PM PDT by Red Badger (Ending a sentence with a preposition is nothing to be afraid of........)
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To: Nifster

https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/understanding-medicare-payment-reform-macra


8 posted on 03/30/2017 1:57:41 PM PDT by Red Badger (Ending a sentence with a preposition is nothing to be afraid of........)
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To: Red Badger

Thank you. Article was obviously designed for healthcare geeks.


9 posted on 03/30/2017 2:07:07 PM PDT by upchuck (U have not lived today until u have done something for someone who can never repay u ~ John Bunyan)
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To: Red Badger

Thanks


10 posted on 03/30/2017 2:13:41 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: spintreebob

The electronic records mandates are driving most physicians crazy. The idea has been to drive solo and small practice physicians to opt out of Medicare and insurance, or out of business completely so that they join the big hospital corporations. This has been done through regulations such as EMRs and complex coding rules that are intended to recapture money via penalties.

The prevailing notion is totalitarian control over medicine. This has been going on a long time at a slower pace under Klintoon and bushie #2. It got a big boost under the previous communist administration with the dreaded 0-care legislation.

I doubt the trajectory will substantially change and most private physicians will opt out and/or refuse to take Medicare, Medicaid.

If Price makes a difference here, I will be shocked. The bureaucracy is too entrenched.


11 posted on 03/30/2017 2:16:58 PM PDT by grumpygresh (When will Soros be brought to justice? Crush the vermin, crush the Left.)
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To: Red Badger

Now having read what these boondoggles are supposed to accomplish I wish they would get rid of the ONC We don’t need medical records that anyone can get a hold of. Medicare payment reform maybe a good goal since health care providers are being screwed by the govt all the time which usually means some other payer is making up the difference

I have yet to see govt handle anything in the health field in a beneficial way


12 posted on 03/30/2017 2:20:33 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Nifster

The ONE thing they could do is create a single form, that all insurance and hospitals and doctors could use for interrelating bills and payments, same codes and same size, color and everything....................


13 posted on 03/30/2017 2:32:56 PM PDT by Red Badger (Ending a sentence with a preposition is nothing to be afraid of........)
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To: Red Badger

I like that


14 posted on 03/30/2017 2:46:58 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Nifster

This is an inside the industry magazine written for insiders who know the acronyms. But it is in these insider mags that we find the real stories.

WAPO/NYT and even right wing sites don’t really cover the reality of what is happening... not in healthcare ... not in other topics also. They give uninformed overviews of things they don’t understand. That is where a lot of fake news coes from... not form intentional twisting as much as from ignorance and laziness... If the media were not so lazy they would educate themselves.


15 posted on 03/30/2017 6:24:00 PM PDT by spintreebob
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