HIMSS makes push on health equity

HIMSS focuses on transforming healthcare through technology, but its mission is also about ensuring everyone gets better access to care.

HIMSS is pushing for policies to improve health equity, including telehealth and data modernization efforts to improve maternal health and disease surveillance.

This week, HIMSS has organized a host of events as part of Global Health Equity Week. HIMSS is also shining a spotlight on legislation and federal policies to support health equity.

Tom Leary, senior vice president & head of government relations at HIMSS, said the organization views technology as an invaluable tool to help underserved communities get access to care.

“Health equity needs to continue to be our north star for why we engage with digital health transformation and focus on the HIMSS vision and mission,” Leary says.

Leary and Valerie Rogers, HIMSS' senior director of government relations, discussed legislation and federal policy concerns regarding health equity in a conversation with Chief Healthcare Executive®.

From a health equity perspective, HIMSS is pushing for lawmakers and the Biden administration to extend telehealth flexibilities that are due to expire at the end of the year.

The government eased restrictions on telehealth in 2020 to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers have crafted a measure that would extend most telehealth programs through the end of 2026, with hospital-at-home programs getting a five-year extension. But Congress still must approve the legislation to get it to the president.

Healthcare advocates say telehealth has strong support, though they are concerned that there’s not much time for Congress to get it done.

“Between now and December 31, we just don't have a choice,” Leary says. “Otherwise we go back to March of 2020, and it's just egregious …. the idea of all of the lessons learned, the access to care, the equity that has been put in place over the last four years, and then to just because there's lack of action at the congressional level, that we're just going to go back.”

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HIMSS has also focused on addressing maternal mortality by using digital tools and improving data to reduce the number of deaths and patients suffering serious complications. America’s maternal mortality rate has soared over the past two decades. Rogers says the use of digital tools, including telehealth and remote patient monitoring, coupled with better data collection could lead to better outcomes.

“One of the key areas that we have focused on is addressing maternal mortality and leveraging digital tools and solutions and improving data to help us,” Rogers says.

HIMSS has backed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Reauthorization Act (H.R. 3838), which would continue federal support to examine causes of maternal deaths and devise strategies to reduce mortality.

In addition, HIMSS is also calling for passage of the Tech To Save Moms Act (H.R. 1699), a bipartisan effort that would expand telehealth and remote patient monitoring programs to improve maternal health.

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HIMSS is also pressing lawmakers to properly invest in data modernization efforts to improve surveillance of diseases. Without robust federal investments, states, counties and tribes will bear more of the costs, Leary says.

The organization has pushed for support of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, a division with the U.S. Centers for Disease Controls & Prevention. Rogers says the forecasting center offers data on emerging threats to help guide policy decisions. She says it’s critical to have “accurate data and data that is actionable.”

“One of the key lessons learned is that we need modernized and more efficient health systems in the United States in order to see healthier communities across the board, whether it's rural, urban, suburban,” Rogers says.

Part of HIMSS efforts also include outreach to veterans.

Earlier this week, HIMSS announced the creation of a new Veterans Community to support veterans in pursuit of healthcare information technology jobs. Veterans can get a one-year membership in HIMSS and enroll in their local chapter.

The goal is open new career opportunities for veterans interested in working in healthcare and being part of the digital transformation of the industry.

HIMSS is also pushing for greater investments in the Indian Health Service and modernizing tribal health systems serving Native Americans and Indigenous communities.