A Weekly Update on the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

North Carolina Activities

NC HIT Strategic Planning Task Force
The NC HIT Strategic Planning Task Force met on June 1 to discuss the draft strategic plan for HIT in the state. As a result, a new draft plan will be developed and released for public comment according to this tentative schedule:

• June 8: draft plan published for public comment
• June 8-18: public comment period
• June 22: Task Force meets to discuss the public comments and finalize the plan, which will then be forwarded to the NC Recovery Office and the Governor for consideration

NCHICA will continue to keep our members informed of the progress of the Task Force and the continuing preparations for ARRA funding.

NCHICA Submits Papers for NC Strategic Plan
The following NCHICA councils and committees submitted papers to the NC HIT Strategic Planning Task Force for consideration in developing the state's strategic plan for HIT:

• The NC HIE Council's Quality & Value Committee submitted a paper on Quality Measures and Initiatives in North Carolina -- click here to read the paper.
• The Consumer Advisory Council on Health Information submitted a paper on HIE: Considerations for Engaging North Carolina Consumers -- click here to read it.
• The NC HIE Council's Technical & Operations Committee submitted version 1.4 of A Proposed Architecture for Statewide HIE Capability for the State of North Carolina -- click here to read it. The committee is meeting today to continue refining the paper.

Congressman Etheridge Visits NCHICA
On May 27 Representative Bob Etheridge (D-NC) visited NCHICA to meet with members and discuss the importance of health IT and the ARRA stimulus funding. Rep. Etheridge receive a briefing on NCHICA activities, including participation in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) NHIN and HISPC contracts. He showed particular interest in the Wounded Warrior (Cumberland County is in his District - 2nd NC) and the SSA Disabilities Determination effort. Dr. Joyce Young of IBM Global Well Being discussed their Person-centered Medical Home program and the savings it has brought to their substantial covered population in NC.

HISPC June Seminar Series
For the last three years, members of NCHICA have participated on behalf of the state in the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) project. The North Carolina HISPC team collaborated with representatives of 44 other states and territories in developing model agreements and educational tools to overcome perception, policy and technology barriers to the adoption of electronic health records and the electronic exchange of health information. This work was funded by the ONC, the same organization that will administer the $2B in funding under ARRA HITECH.

The HISPC Seminar Series will be held throughout the month of June on Tuesdays and Thursdays and will include eight 90-minute online seminars. Each seminar will highlight the work and results of the seven HISPC multi-state collaboratives as well as follow-up analysis on state law variation completed by Georgetown University. The HISPC Collaborative presentations will focus on the tools and processes developed and how they can be used by individual, local, regional and state-level stakeholders. These seminars are an opportunity to gain insights into the background thinking that may be behind the judging of competitive proposals for funding and one could expect that the incorporation of this work would be important in proposal development.

The seminars are free, but registration is required. The first seminar will be on June 4 at 2:00 - 3:30 pm EST. Click here for further details or to register. Below is the list of seminars (the NC HISPC team worked on those highlighted in bold):

• June 4: Consumer Education and Engagement
• June 9: Provider Education Toolkit
• June 11: Interstate Disclosure and Patient Consent Requirements
• June 16: Harmonizing State Privacy Law
• June 18: Intrastate and Interstate Consent Policy Options
• June 23: Adoption of Standard Policies
• June 25: State Law Analysis Project and Database
• June 30: Interorganizational Agreements
  

NC HIE Council Committees

• The Policy Development Committee met with NCHICA's Privacy and Security Officials Workgroup and Legal Workgroup on May 27 to discuss the privacy and security provisions of the state's draft strategic plan for HIT. The discussion was led by Jill Moore, JD, from the HIT Strategic Planning Task Force. The next meeting will be on June 24 from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm at the NCHICA office. Lunch will be served: contact Mary Cornwall at mary@nchica.org if you wish to attend.
• The Technical & Operations Committee will meet on June 3 from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm at the NCHICA office to continue to refine the white paper entitled A Proposed Architecture for Statewide HIE Capability for the State of NC. The next version of the white paper will be submitted to the NC HIT Strategic Planning Task Force as part of the public comment period.
• The Finance & Administration Committee will meet on June 10 from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm at the NCHICA office to provide comments on the financing and sustainability sections of the state's draft strategic plan for HIT. At that time, the committee will also consider some of the economic issues raised from the public comments on the Technical & Operations Committee's white paper, specifically the prospects for competition among community-based HIEs in NC and the impact that competition could have. Lunch will be served: contact Mary Cornwall at mary@nchica.org if you wish to attend.

Teaming Opportunities
NCHICA has been asked about potential teaming opportunities to submit proposals in response to government Requests for Proposals. NCHICA welcomes such inquiries from members that are aligned with the NCHICA mission and lead to standards-based solutions that benefit the broad range of NCHICA members and the healthcare sector. The NCHICA Development Committee has established a process and format for submitting ideas for consideration. Click here to download the proposal submittal outline.

National ARRA Activities

ONC Requests Comments on Draft Plan for Health IT Regional Extension Centers
The ONC has published a Federal Register Notice and Request for Comments on the draft plan for establishing regional extension centers to assist providers seeking to adopt and become meaningful users of health IT, as authorized by ARRA. The notice includes information on how to submit comments, which are due by 5:00 pm on June 11, 2009. Click here to read the notice.

Audioconference Available Online
National Health Information Technology Audioconferences is offering a complimentary archived online version of the webinar on Stimulus Funding Opportunities for RHIOs, HIEs, and Regional Technical Support Centers which took place on Thursday, May 28, 2009. Click here to listen.

NHIN CONNECT Seminar June 29-30
Understanding and participating in health information exchanges (HIEs) at a local and national level will be central to the long-term success of health reform, and the federal government has released a new open source solution called CONNECT to support efforts to achieve HIE. CONNECT was built to become the platform for widespread participation in HIEs while also laying the foundation for innovation. During the first annual CONNECT Seminar, professionals from the public and private sectors will convene to learn more about the new, federally-developed, open-source gateway for HIE. Topics include:

• How can you use CONNECT to participate in HIEs locally and nationally?
• What are the components of the CONNECT solution?
• Is CONNECT the right solution for you?
• What are the benefits, requirements and options for participating in HIEs?
• How can you set up, configure and use CONNECT within your environment?
• How can you be part of the CONNECT Open Source Community?

To register, click here.

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