Newsletter: August 2024 Issue

AUGUST 2024

In this issue, we discuss compliance with the Information Blocking Rule (IBR), share updates on our CHIE portal and Clinical Data Repository migration, as well as our progress following the Change Healthcare cybersecurity event. Looking ahead, we’re preparing for Virtual Payer Panels, CHIE platform trainings, and in-person conferences around the country. Finally, we’re proud to share that Gartner highlighted the UHIN Clearinghouse, emphasizing our long-standing commitment to compliance, security, and privacy.

Stay in the know – join us on LinkedIn!


We’ve been working hard with our vendor to set up the new CHIE portal and Clinical Data Repository, as well as migrating data and connections for our interfaces. We anticipate going live at the end of September. We’ll send weekly updates with more information on what to expect. Click here to learn more about the new CHIE Platform.  
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Portal users will see a more modern experience, including an updated homepage dashboard and patient summary. Based on feedback from users, we are migrating 5 years of data. We will migrate a longer history for allergies, immunizations, colonoscopies, and opt out requests.  

If you are not currently using the portal, you should not notice any changes in current functionality, and your alerts and interfaces should continue to work as they always have.


Update

We’re pleased to provide a positive update on our ongoing efforts to restore full functionality following the cybersecurity event at Change Healthcare (CHC). Keep reading for updates on expanded payer network coverage, increased ERA submissions, streamlining enrollment processes, re-enrollment, and support.


Hand under hologram of health data symbols

As healthcare continues to share data and information more frequently, the importance of adhering to information blocking regulations cannot be overstated. Particularly as disincentive regulations for healthcare providers went into effect on July 31, 2024. See how HIEs play a role in Information Blocking Rule (IBR) compliance and benefit both patients and providers.


September 13: Utah Medical Association (UMA) annual House of Delegates in Midvale, UT

September 26-27: Wisconsin Association of Health Plans Annual Conference in Elkhart Lake, WI

October 15-17: Civitas Annual Conference in Detroit, MI

November 4-6: Texas Covered Health Care Conference + Expo Event in Austin, TX


In the months ahead, we’ll host Virtual Payer Panels and CHIE platform trainings. Sign up in the email preference center to stay informed of dates and details.

Interested in learning how to use the CHIE or MYUHIN to their fullest capabilities? Make sure to visit the UHIN Education channel ​​​​​​to watch our how-to videos on YouTube. 


Gartner released a report to help CIOs reexamine their clearinghouse solution to solve critical business and security concerns. The authors specifically highlighted UHIN as a stand-alone clearinghouse. For decades we’ve supported our customer’s efforts to prioritize compliance, security and privacy. We appreciate the recognition after all these years!



Newsletter: July 2024 Issue

JULY 2024

As the world’s greatest athletes convene and compete in Paris, we look at the ways each of us can strive for greatness in our own healthcare arenas. We all have a part to play in realizing collective success: Pursuing peak performance in electronic data interchange (EDI), building connections across organizations, and forming new bonds for lasting impact. How can you prepare and perform to claim gold in your respective field of play in healthcare?

Follow us on LinkedIn for weekly posts and updates!


Leaders in healthcare electronic data interchange (EDI) must pursue peak performance in claim management and data excellence, akin to athletes pushing to win at the highest levels.

Just as sprinters, gymnasts or divers prepare meticulously and train relentlessly, EDI leaders must ensure accuracy, innovate continuously, harness data effectively, surmount challenges, foster a culture of teamwork, and celebrate successes along the way.

For health plans, the results from these collective efforts include significantly reduced costs, enhanced processes, and improved member satisfaction. Learn how you can incorporate the best practices of the world’s greatest athletes to achieve data excellence and become an EDI champion.


Sarah Stierch (CC BY 4.0)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a reorganization aimed at enhancing its technology, cybersecurity, data, and artificial intelligence (AI) strategy and policy functions. This restructuring consolidates these responsibilities into a newly renamed office, the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC), to oversee key roles, including the Chief Technology Officer, Chief Data Officer, and Chief AI Officer. 

Why This Matters for Leaders in Health Information Exchange and Healthcare Data:

1. Centralized Oversight and Strategy: The reorganization centralizes technology, data, and AI oversight under the ASTP/ONC, ensuring a cohesive strategy and streamlined decision-making process.

2. Enhanced Cybersecurity Measures: By moving the “405(d) Program” to ASPR, HHS aims to enhance its cybersecurity efforts, providing a more robust, consolidated and coordinated approach to protecting health sector infrastructure. 

3. Focused Leadership and Expertise: The establishment of dedicated roles, including the Chief Technology Officer, Chief Data Officer, and Chief AI Officer, highlights HHS’s commitment to drive innovation, improve data governance, and ensure the safe and ethical use of AI in healthcare, benefiting both providers and patients.


Claim managers at health plans can achieve excellence by adopting specific action items, such as refining validation processes, increasing their auto-adjudication rate, and ensuring secure transactions. Drawing inspiration from world-class athletes, they must remain focused, resilient, and committed to continuous improvement. Read this month’s blog post to see how you can incorporate the best practices of Olympic divers, gymnasts, cyclists, hurdlers, basketball teams, and sprinters to win gold and become an EDI champion.


July 30: Provider Resource Fair hosted by Aspen Grove Behavioral Hospital in Orem, UT

September 13: Utah Medical Association (UMA) annual House of Delegates in Midvale, UT

October 15-17: Civitas Annual Conference in Detroit, MI


Coming soon: Our virtual Payer Panel series and training sessions on the new CHIE platform, specifically for portal users. Subscribe for more details and notifications!


Got a story or event that your peers in healthcare and tech just have to know? An innovative interoperability solution or point of view?

Please email us at communications@uhin.org and we’ll include links to our favorite community content each month.



Newsletter: June 2024 Issue

UHIN June 2024 Newsletter

JUNE 2024

As the mercury soars this summer, we’re turning our attention to the burning issues in Health Information Technology (HIT). We’re delving into the latest developments in Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), the blazing necessity of cybersecurity, updates on the Change Healthcare breach, and upcoming events and webinars.

Follow us on LinkedIn for weekly posts and updates!


finger on iPad

HL7® FHIR® (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) represents a paradigm shift in healthcare data exchange. In our most recent blog post, Ryan McLelland (Chief Technology Officer at UHIN) provides a thought-provoking look at the benefits of FHIR, the myths around it, and a strategic approach to implementing this powerful catalyst for innovation in healthcare. 


Maintaining a strong security posture is critical for protecting personal health information (PHI) and other data. Good practices include establishing interoperability, resiliency and redundancy across your network. As ransomware attacks continue to climb in the US, you need to cover your network to make sure you don’t get burned.

We continue to monitor and share updates about the Change Healthcare (CHC) breach on our News & Updates page. You can also sign up to receive Status updates via email, Slack, text, and other preferred methods whenever UHIN creates, updates or resolves an incident, including information about the CHC breach.


Security lock

We recently shared an update on our ongoing efforts to minimize disruption caused by the cybersecurity event at Change Healthcare (CHC), with a specific focus on Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) delivery (835 files). 


Events

July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. We’ll share info, inspiration, and resources for mental health on our social media.

We will be closed for Independence Day on Thursday, July 4, 2024.

Upcoming Conferences:​​​​​​September 13: Utah Medical Association (UMA) annual House of Delegates in Midvale, UT

October 15-17: Civitas Annual Conference in Detroit, MI


people icons

In July, we’re starting our virtual Payer Panel series where you can ask questions and get answers from health plan representatives.

Later this year, we’ll host training sessions on the new CHIE platform, specifically for portal users.


We continue to support Providers affected by the CHC breach by working with payers to expedite Provider enrollment. Once enrolled, Providers can use our solutions to create and send professional and institutional claims via SFTP, file tool or online hand-entry, check claims status, manage denials and rejections, and search, view, and download payment information. Click below to learn more and get your claims flowing again!



Newsletter: May 2024 Issue

MAY 2024

For many of us, Memorial Day marks the unofficial start to summer. Hard to believe we’re heading into June! In this month’s newsletter, we look at the importance of resilient, redundant and interoperable systems, the events and webinars coming up, and we attempt to foretell everything that will happen for the rest of the year.

Remember to join us on LinkedIn for frequent news and updates!


The first half of this year was packed with exciting news and rocked by tech incidents. While we can’t predict the future, we can plan a better path ahead

Look into your crystal ball 🔮 What are your predictions (big or small) for things to come in healthcare this year? And, what are your goals that you hope to accomplish? We want to hear from you! 


John Lynn and Colin Hung look at where the industry stands just two months following the ransomware attack. For healthcare professionals, this could be a watershed moment for information security, revenue cycle management (RCM) and back-up planning for potential, future incidents.


City connected with blue lines of communication

Our most recent blog post (authored by Brian Chin, UHIN’s CEO) addresses the importance of redundant and resilient healthcare systems, and how they support seamless interoperability in times of crisis. There are, of course, great benefits and challenges when it comes to maintaining interoperability during disaster recovery (see them below👇).


September 13: Utah Medical Association (UMA) annual House of Delegates in Midvale, UT

October 15-17: Civitas Annual Conference in Detroit, MI

​​​​More to come: Stay tuned!


people icons

We’ll host training sessions on the new CHIE platform, specifically for portal users. Stay tuned for more details on our virtual Payer Panels where you can ask questions and get answers from health plan representatives.


May is Mental Health Month. Our partners and customers offer services and solutions that can help, including AARP Utah’s mental health and wellness resources and Valley Behavioral Health’s treatment programs and services for children and youth. We invite you to learn how you can get involved all year by visiting Mental Health America.



Newsletter: April 2024 Issue

APRIL 2024

This month we announced our affiliation with Comagine Health and added new CHIE data sources from CommonSpirit Health. We look forward to growing with our new strategic partners, customers, and you! Keep reading for what else happened in April and what’s coming up next month.​​​​​​

P.S. Follow our LinkedIn page for more frequent news, posts and insights


“Aligning our health care knowledge and expertise through affiliation is a profound opportunity to advance our parallel missions, while delivering greater success to our customers and partners. We have collaborated successfully for more than a decade. As affiliates, UHIN and Comagine Health can serve as a unified force for change in health care for the foreseeable future.”

​​​​​​- Brian Chin, UHIN’s Chief Executive Officer

Keep scrolling for more information on our affiliation.


Comagine logo, UHIN logo, Comagine and UHIN affiliation announcement

We have announced our official affiliation with Comagine Health, a national nonprofit healthcare consulting firm. We have a long history of working together over the last decade on federal and state initiatives to advance electronic health record (EHR) adoption, cost transparency reporting, capacity and functionality of all-payer claims databases (APCDs) and interoperability and surveillance activities. Combining our technology solutions and Comagine Health’s analytic services will enable more actionable health insights and more sustainable, transformational improvements for communities.​​​​​​


CommonSpirit health logo, UHIN logo, New data source CommonSpirit Health

The CHIE continues to add important data sources, providing healthcare professionals with vital medical information when it is needed most. Recently, we’ve onboarded CommonSpirit Health as a data source.


WEDI spring conference

We’re attending the WEDI Spring Conference from May 13 – 16 (virtually). We look forward to learning more from experts, like Aneesh Chopra, about solutions to improve information exchange, enhance care quality, and reduce cost and burden. 

Are you planning to attend online, too?


In addition to online product trainings for our customers, we’re preparing virtual payer panels for later this year. These will be similar to the payer panels you may have attended in previous years at the HIT Conference.


We’re reading the recent CAQH report on the wide differences in administrative transaction costs for generalists, specialists and behavioral health providers. “The medical industry spends an astonishing $83 billion annually on staff time to conduct routine administrative transactions between providers and health plans during and after a patient-provider encounter. Providers shoulder 97 percent of these costs.”



Newsletter: March 2024 Issue

MARCH 2024

“Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Such was life in the healthcare information technology sector this month. We collectively faced daunting cyber circumstances and peered into an optimistic future filled with the possibilities of A.I., resilient and redundant networks, and healthcare interoperability for all.


Cyberattacks affect all of us. We're here to help.

UHIN is dedicated to maintaining interoperability for all payers, providers and partners. When an event as large as the Change Healthcare cyber incident impacts our community, we know we need to serve as a bridge to stable ground. Read more about the actions we’re taking to support our community at this time.


We’re actively supporting Providers by expediting enrollment with Payers to get claims flowing again. Providers can leverage our solutions to create and send professional and institutional claims, submit via SFTP, file tool or online hand-entry, check claims status, manage denials and rejections, and search, view, and download payment information.

We can connect with health plans, so they may receive claims from providers through a direct connection to our clearinghouse. Empower your provider network by elevating your collaboration efforts, securely sharing information and data, and providing better affordable care for your members.​​​​​​


Typing on computers

The alarming rise in cyber threats – namely ransomware – highlight the urgent need for enhanced cyber resiliency and robust security measures in healthcare. Read our recent blog post with five ways to reduce your risk and secure personal health information (PHI) from cyberattacks.


HIMSS shared their recap of the 2024 Global Health Conference & Exhibition (March 11-15 in Orlando). Cybersecurity, A.I.,and health equity and access to care delivery were big themes this year. What were you most excited to learn at HIMSS this year?


We’re preparing a series of online trainings for CHIE users this year. Explore our new platform and share feedback with our HIT experts. Stay tuned for updates on upcoming trainings.


Comagine Health logo

Comagine Health President and CEO Marc Bennett addresses how the organization has been managing competing tensions while building partnerships to serve as a prime contractor for the 13th Statement of Work in the Midwest CMS QIN-QIO Region 6.



Newsletter: February 2024 Issue

February 2024 Newsletter

February 2024

Thanks for spending this extra day going around the sun with us. In February, we dove into the 2023 CAQH Index Report and prepared for the CHIE’s migration to a new platform.

One more thing: For our providers experiencing disruptions in their claims management due to the Change cyberattack, we’re here to help. Please contact us to fast track your enrollment with payers at customersuccess@uhin.org.


American Heart Month

In February we recognized Black History Month and American Heart Month. Here are just a couple ways to support and celebrate these causes throughout the entire year:

For health care professionals and clinicians, use the resources in the Center for Disease Control (CDC) heart toolkit to support their patients, especially women, by listening to their heart.

In Utah? Dive into Utah’s rich black history at the Utah Black History Museum! Find the mobile exhibit across Utah this year or consider donating.​


CHIE platform

The new platform empowers CHIE users to better understand patient populations, provide greater care, reduce waste while improving quality, and pinpoint at-risk patients to intervene before their next encounter.

After consulting with our community’s advisory committee, we will be migrating five years of data with the exception of opt out consents, immunizations, allergies, and colonoscopies for which a longer history will be migrated.

Technical implementation is currently underway and we anticipate user migrations will start in Q2 of 2024. We will keep all CHIE users informed of our progress via email.


Copyright CAQH

We published two blog posts sharing our thoughts on the most recent CAQH Index released earlier this month. How did electronic transaction adoption and healthcare administration change in 2023 for both providers and payers? Keep reading to find out.


Our CEO, Brian Chin, recently attended ViVe 2024. Artificial Intelligence was a hot topic this year, as you may have expected. Check out a few photos from the conference here.

Are you going to HIMSS 2024? Let us know what you’re most excited to see while in Orlando next month at communications@uhin.org.


We have online trainings coming up for the new CHIE platform. Please sign up for CHIE updates and our Events notifications to add these to your calendar so you don’t miss a thing!


Do you have something your peers in healthcare and tech just have to know about? An innovative interoperability solution or point of view? Please email us at communications@uhin.org and we’ll include links to our favorite community content each month.

Next month we’ll attend HIMSS 2024 and help to raise awareness of the risks and symptoms of diabetes on American Diabetes Alert Day (March 26). 


Newsletter: January 2024 Issue

January 2024 Newsletter

January 2024

We’re excited to start sending our new newsletter in 2024. Each month we’ll share insights and articles from our in-house experts, HIT news, event announcements, product updates, and more.


We celebrated our 30th anniversary! Thank you to our founders, partners, board of directors, customers, and staff who have supported us for more than three decades.

We enjoyed seeing familiar faces and meeting new friends at the WEDI National Conference, Civitas Annual Conference, Texas and California Association of Health Plans Annual Conferences, AWS re:Invent, Utah Health Association Fall Leadership Conference, and the Utah Medical Association Annual House of Delegates Meeting.

We hosted the 2023 HIT Conference focused on the “Future of Healthcare Interoperability.” 250 attendees joined us in Salt Lake City to hear keynote addresses by Dr. Angela Dunn (Executive Director, Salt Lake County Health Department) and Joy Rios (Founder and CEO of the “HIT Like a Girl” podcast), and attended sessions with thought leaders from UHIN, the University of Utah Health, Select Health, Amazon, One Utah Health Collaborative, KLAS, Canary Speech, Comagine Health, healthKERI, HL7 International, Redstone, Brigham Young University, Shoreline, and Noridian Healthcare Solutions.


MYUHIN crossed one million claims submissions in 2023. Our billing solution empowers thousands of healthcare providers and billers to check eligibility and submit claims from anywhere. Click below to learn about all of MYUHIN’s benefits and predictable pricing.


UHIN’s Falls Risk Indicator ingests non-transport information from Emergency Medical Services (EMS) through the state’s National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS) and uses an algorithm with data points from the patient record to provide a yes/no risk assessment of a patient’s risk of falling in the short term. As a physician using the CHIE, you can use the Falls Risk Indicator to be notified when your patients are at-risk for damaging falls, and then intervene. Read our recent blog post by Michelle Suitor (Director, Clinical Health Information Exchange) about the Falls Risk Indicator below!


We’ll be attending ViVe 2024 (Los Angeles, Feb. 25-28), WEDI Spring Conference (Virtual, May 13-16), and Civitas 2024 Annual Conference (Detroit, Oct. 15-17). We’ll continue to add more throughout the year!

Which conferences and events are you planning to attend this year? If you need some ideas, see Fierce Healthcare’s “Healthcare conferences to put on your calendar for 2024” below.

We’re preparing a series of online trainings this year for our customers. You will learn about new product features and have the opportunity to share feedback with our HIT experts. Stay tuned for more information about our upcoming trainings!


We’d like for our newsletter to include everyone: our customers, partners, industry experts, and anyone with a compelling story to share. Got something your peers in healthcare and tech just have to know? An innovative interoperability solution or point of view?

Please email us at communications@uhin.org and we’ll include links to our favorite community content each month.