Establishing a Foundation for Regulatory Success
A fantastic article co-authored by Impact Advisors’ own Larry Katzovitz in HSS Journal looks at Hospital for Special Surgery’s (HSS) approach to implementing the complex changes required under the 21st Century Cures Act (such as the highly publicized “Information Blocking” requirements). Per the authors: “As health care systems implement the provisions of both the Cures Act and the Interoperability and Patient Access rule, they must also undergo dramatic changes in workflow and culture. At HSS, implementing these complex regulations has required collaboration among many departments and individuals, including IT and operations teams, clinical staff, health information management, compliance and legal teams, researchers, and physical therapists.” See project organization chart from HSS here. The authors conclude: “As with COVID-19, success meant involving stakeholders from many disciplines, creating a well-defined governance structure, and working as with as much efficiency and agility as possible. As with COVID-19, our experience now will serve us well in the future.”
Why It Matters:
The article is an excellent reminder about the level of commitment, organization, and multidisciplinary stakeholder engagement that is needed to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Cures Act – but we think the article also underscores how leading organizations are taking the critical lessons that were learned during the initial phase of the pandemic (e.g., the importance of governance, agility, etc.) and applying them to a new set of pressures. We think the authors put it perfectly when they state: “This is just the beginning. Indeed, several multiyear, transformational regulatory requirements have been proposed, including other information blocking rules (which are likely to lead to the entire EHR being available to patients), safe prescribing rules, and revisions to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Like the changes made under the Cures Act, implementation of these revisions will require careful analysis, project management, governance, and multidisciplinary approaches.”
Related Reading:
Six Key Principles of Successful Change Management
This article was originally published in Impact Advisors’ digital newsletter: The Impact Advisor 4Q2021.