Top News
AMIA Win! AHRQ Releases Technical Brief on Documentation Burden for Comment
Through the hard work by members of the AMIA 25x5 Task Force, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Effective Health Care Program released a technical brief on documentation burden describing the concept and how it is measured. AHRQ has identified 11 outcome measures, how the measures were developed and applied, and the physician perspective on documentation burden. This is a big win for the 25x5 Task Force because it shows federal funding toward understanding documentation burden and the effects on physicians.
Read the technical brief and provide comments by March 15.
Congress
Match IT Act Introduced in the House
On February 15, The Patient Matching and Transparency in Certified Health IT (Match IT) Act of 2024 was introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Mike Kelly (Pennsylvania District 16) and Bill Foster (Illinois District 11). Through the Patient ID Now coalition, the Match IT Act was authored to improve patient matching and transparency, decrease patient and health system costs, and increase patient privacy and safety. As a member of Patient ID Now, AMIA applauds the great work by the coalition and will continue to support strategies for addressing patient identification.
AMIA Urges Congress to Act on Telehealth
Coordinated by the Alliance for Connected Care, AMIA and 200-plus organizations, submitted a letter to urge Congress to make permanent important telehealth flexibilities granted during the pandemic to continue supporting access to care for millions of Americans.
Read the letter to Congressional Leadership.
House of Representatives Bipartisan Task Force on AI
House Leadership announced the establishment of a bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) exploring how Congress can ensure AI innovation while considering guardrails that may be appropriate to safeguard against current and emerging threats. The Task Force will be chaired by House Representatives Jay Obernolte (California District 23) and Ted Lieu (California District 36) with 22 other members of the House. Now that the Task Force is not specificality healthcare AI, AMIA will monitor the progress of the group for relevant areas to membership.
See the announcement by House Leadership.
Regulatory
Dina N. Paltoo, PhD set as NLM Acting Deputy Director of Policy and External Affairs
Dr. Dina Paltoo has been appointed Acting Deputy Director of Policy and External Affairs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Library of Medicine (NLM). Dr. Paltoo is tasked with establishing and implementing policy frameworks steering NLM’s research, operations, and public services while coordinating relationships in NIH and with external stakeholders.
Learn more about Deputy Director Paltoo.
NLM Office Hours for the Dataset Catalog
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is set to have an Office Hour for the beta version of department’s Dataset Catalog on Thursday, April 11, at 2:00 p.m. ET.
The Dataset Catalog is a new online tool with a free collection of biomedical datasets from selected publicly available repositories. NLM created the catalog for researchers to search, discover, retrieve, and connect with datasets to accelerate scientific research. The beta version is intended to collect feedback to advise future development. Email questions in advance of the office hours to NLMTrainers@nih.gov with "NLM Office Hours" as the subject line.
ICYMI
FDA Comment Opportunity
The FDA has a comment opportunity for the Collection of Race and Ethnicity Data in Clinical Trials and Clinical Studies for FDA-regulated Medical Products Guidance. The newly proposed guidance includes recommendations on the use of a standardized approach for collecting and reporting race and ethnicity data in submissions including information collected and reported from clinical trials and clinical studies for FDA-regulated medical products to promote consistency in submissions.
To ensure your comment will be considered on a draft guidance before it begins work on the final version, submit your comments by April 29.
Link to comment and learn more about the proposed draft guidance.
Around the World
- AHRQ Webinar: Integrating Patient-Reported Outcomes into Practice: Benefits, Challenges, and Recommendations for Action – February 27, 2024, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET.
- Innovation in Population Data Analytics Driven by the 21st Century Cures Act’s API Standards Requirements; ONC
- Digital Health Company Experiences Using EHR APIs; ONC
AMIA’s Washington Download is your source for health informatics policy news and information from around the Beltway, covering action from the Hill, the Administration, and important AMIA collaborators.