Weekly #GovHIT Updates: U.S. State and Local Health IT News

Data Across Sectors for Health Funding for Community Data Sharing

Looking for an opportunity to support and grow your local community health improvement programs? Data Across Sectors for Health (DASH) recently announced applications are now open for the DASH CIC-START and DASH Mentor Program. DASH is committed to focusing on issues related to community health, supporting communities’ ability to assess, design and implement initiatives, and recognizing lessons learned from other communities to share the knowledge and data with others.

• DASH CIC-START provides a $25,000, six-month contract to gains skills to engage partners, share data sectors, and/or create and implement initiatives to build a multi-sector collaboration. Application deadline for DASH CIC-START is Nov. 16 at 3:30pm EST.
• DASH Mentor Program offers $5,000 per participant to join one of six cohorts throughout nine months. During this time, “mentees” acquire the skill, tools, and knowledge to strengthen the sharing efforts of their local multi-sector data. Explore this resource to learn more about the program and DASH Mentor cohorts. The application deadline closes on Nov. 9 at 3:00pm EST.

HIMSS Works to Catalyze Change in the Opioid Epidemic

2018 U.S. National Health IT Week proved to be a major success. A focal point of HIMSS’s efforts throughout the awareness week included the HIMSS Virtual March on the States, which resulted in over 400 letters to state legislators (in which more than half of U.S. states participated). The march focused on addressing the opioid epidemic through the application of information and technology at all levels of government. There is still time to make your voice heard to state legislators – take action!

To continue the momentum of the Virtual March, the HIMSS Government Relations team is continuing its webinar series on state and local policy solutions to address the opioid crisis, where each webinar will take a deep dive into each of the policy asks.

HIMSS Opioid Crisis Webinars

• Every Prescription Conveyed Securely: Leveraging E-Prescribing of Controlled Substances to Combat the Opioid Crisis: Monday, Nov. 19 – 12:00-1:00pm ET
• PDMP Integration and Telehealth: Existing and Flexible Funding for States to Combat the Opioid Crisis: Thursday, Dec. 13 – 1:00-2:00pm ET
• Cross-sector Data Sharing: The Key to Timely Opioid Crisis Response and Prevention (Save the Date!): Monday, Jan. 14, 2019 – 1:00-2:00pm ET

Learn more and view past webinars about public policy news and resources to address the opioid crisis.

Kaiser Family Foundation Releases 18th Annual 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey for States

Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released their 18th annual 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey for States fiscal year 2018 and 2019. The survey gathers information on trends in Medicaid enrollment and spending. Even though, states fund their Medicaid program differently, the Medicaid state directors share a common goal of updating their information technology system and expanding services.

Key highlights of the report include:

• Eligibility, delivery systems/managed care, provider rates and taxes, pharmacy/opioid strategies, benefits, long-term service and supports are key policy areas focused on by states. As policies are applied and changed, so are the states’ discussion to expand Medicaid. Maine and Virginia plan to join the other 34 states with ACA Medicaid expansion. Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah have ballot initiatives to adopt ACA expansion.
• Under the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (SUPPORT Act), states can offer benefit enhancements. The most common of these services are mental health, substance use disorder services, dental, and telehealth.
• Many of the Medicaid state directors expressed a high priority towards implementing and updating their information technology systems with most prioritizing the requirements to meet the new Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS). The new federal MMIS design reuses the technical solutions already in place in some states. Health information technology (HIT) links services used by a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) as per Section 2703 of the ACA, the ACA Health Homes option.
• Some states relayed the use of telemedicine in their medication-assisted treatment initiatives. For example, experts at the Indiana University School of Medicine share their knowledge via online video-conferencing as a part of an inter-disciplinary specialist team to communicate best practice care for opioid use disorder (OUD) to local primary care teams in rural and underserved populations.

For more information, visit their website.