Congress has been hard at work over the past two weeks reviewing and advancing numerous pieces of legislation to address the opioid crisis. Here is a rundown of key activity and specific legislation endorsed by HIMSS.

On Tuesday, April 24, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the 2019 Inpatient Prospective Payment System Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which includes modifications to the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) Incentive Programs, and other proposed changes to interoperability initiatives at CMS.

The new Action Plan outlines the FDA’s vision for how the FDA can continue to enhance its programs and processes to assure the safety of medical devices.

The meeting topics included updates from the ONC Office of the Chief Scientist, a presentation on the ONC Consumer Guide, and a presentation from the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) Task Force on their USCDI and Proposed Expansion Process recommendations.

HHS Startup Day Chicago aims to connect healthcare entrepreneurs with federal government about the latest innovative digital health technology

HIMSS’ chapters across the US have prioritized opioid crisis relief and taken the initiative to explore health IT approaches to address the crisis.

The California bill AB 2315 on pupil health was re-referred to the Committee on Health as of April 17, 2018. This bill requires that the State Department of Education with the State Department of Health Care Services to develop regulations surrounding the use of telehealth technology in California schools.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)’s Health IT Portfolio is dedicated to funding research projects on health IT-related issues that explore how health information and technology can improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of care. Recently, an AHRQ-funded study published in Health Affairs explored the challenges of using data from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) to improve quality of care.

UNC Health Care was recently recognized with EMRAM Stage 7 status – the first organization to achieve this accomplishment under the newly updated HIMSS Analytics criteria.

New approaches to healthcare technology – from interoperability and electronic health records to blockchain – signal the industry is catching on to the philosophy that some of the best ideas come from outside your network.

In recognition of World Immunization Week, HIMSS spoke with Samuel Raj, technical director, and Ganesh Sivashanmugam, senior applications engineer at Glenwood Systems – an organization with a product earning the HIMSS Immunization Integration Program (IIP) Seal of Approval. Learn more about their experience as IIP participants in the Q&A below.