Ever feel like you’re living in an airport? This is probably what a lot of people were saying to each other as they stood in impossibly long airport security lines this week [read more here about how TSA agents may finally get paid despite a 41-day-and-counting partial government shutdown]. The “living-in-an-airport” line comes from the 2004 movie Terminal, a really bad Tom Hanks-Steven Spielberg collaboration that cast Stanley Tucci as the evil Customs agent, which is probably why the movie didn’t work. Stanley Tucci is an amazing actor who can play endearingly wonderful characters, like his role as Nigel, a fashion magazine art director who is a master of clothing accessories in The Devil Wears Prada (and the upcoming sequel). It is this idea of “accessorizing” in health IT policy that I explore in the One Thoughtful Paragraph below.
In the meantime, other news this week that is like standing in a long airport line:
- With the April 1 deadline fast approaching, we are waiting to see who applies to the CMMI Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) Model. It will be interesting to learn who will offer their technology tools to help manage chronic disease for not a lot of money, as the first cohort is supposed to begin doing just that on July 5, 2026.
- We didn’t have to wait too long to find out who would be on the new CMS Healthcare Advisory Committee. The agency announced the 18 inaugural members of the federal advisory body (see STAT News’ writeup here) who will provide recommendations on how to improve the U.S. health care system.
- The White House released legislative recommendations as part of its “National Strategy on AI.” With three new surveys showing that everyone everywhere is asking AI chatbots for health care advice (see Rock Health, Zocdoc, and KFF), it seems clear that Congress should develop some guardrails to make sure these things are reliable and safe. But we may be waiting a while for that; Congress is, um, busy.
Pull yourself together, we have work to do. And by “we” I mean “you.” This line from the trailer for The Devil Wears Prada sequel may be what inspired CMS to push out its latest rule. The agency is asking doctors and health plans to pull themselves together and stop using the fax machine. Only 30 years after HIPAA’s “Administrative Simplification” provisions were passed, we are ready to insist that everyone transmit clinical documentation using computers. (Just as groundbreaking as florals for spring). Still, I applaud CMS for finalizing the Health Care Claims Attachments rule. For those of you wondering what an “attachment” is, think of it as a fashion accessory for health care claims – supporting clinical documentation that proves a service should be paid for — like medical records, lab results, or x-rays. Now, health care providers and health plans will be asked to use a standard electronic format and electronic signatures to make health data flow better. And by “now” I mean the federal government’s version of “now” – in two years, HIPAA-covered entities will be required to comply with the rule (by May 26, 2028). It is like the great line delivered by Meryl Streep in the first The Devil Wears Prada movie: “By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.”
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