SustiNet Health Partnership

Health Information Technology
Advisory Committee

Health Information Technology Committee Regular Meeting

March 5, 2010

 Meeting Minutes

Teleconference Participants:  Marie Smith, Co-chair; Robert Aseltine; Bob Tessier; Ryan O’Connell; Enrique Juncadella; Alex Hutchinson

Office of the Healthcare Advocate:  Michael Foy Mitchell

Marie Smith opened the teleconference by welcoming all participants.  The minutes from the February 5, 2010 meeting were approved with changes by present Committee members, but Marie said she would contact absent Committee members for their approval.

There was a brief discussion about updating the membership list on the website.  Marie said that she would touch bases with members who haven’t been participating recently to see if there is a better way to get them involved.  She expressed appreciation for the subgroups that have been holding meetings.  Rob Aseltine said that this Committee is meeting frequently and suggested that now the focus should be on subgroups rather than on the larger Committee, which could hold less frequent meetings.  He also said that perhaps the meeting time should be reconsidered.  Michael Mitchell said that other subgroups are working on the outlines of their reports.  Marie said that it is time to regroup, keeping deadlines in mind.

Marie has reached out to Ellen Andrews who is co-chair of the Patient Centered Medical Home Committee.  Ellen said that her Committee is still in the information gathering stage.  Ellen is aware that HIT will play an important role in medical homes, so she agreed to stay in contact with this Committee.  Marie is also tracking the activities of the Healthcare Quality and Provider Advisory Committee because of their HIT implications.  Mark Boxer is tracking the Preventive Healthcare and Health Disparities and Equity Advisory Committees.  Michael said that the Disparities Committee is planning to contact all the other Committees to ensure that their efforts are included in any recommendations made.

Marie asked about the upcoming Board of Directors’ retreat, which will allow SustiNet Committees and Task Forces to share information about their efforts.  Michael said that dates for this still haven’t been finalized.  He agreed to provide Marie with the dates as soon as they are available.

Work plan Updates

1. General items/synergy with other Advisory Committees - Marie said that she and Mark are tracking other Advisory Committees to see where this Committee is synergistically with other groups in regard to HIT components.
2. Organizational tasks – Nothing at this time.
3. ARRA/Federal Health Care Reform – Marie and Mark have a teleconference scheduled with Stan Dorn from the Urban Institute to hear his recommendations for this Committee.
4. Logistics – Alex Hutchinson said that this group has spoken with John Brady who provided a helpful framework for identifying what the current knowledge base is in CT concerning existing EMRs.  The group also looked at the verbiage of the charge and is determining how to answer it.  Alex said that the group is more interested in determining what exists in community practices rather than in hospitals.  He said that he has visited with many IPAs and has found them to be good resources.  Marie suggested that he contact Doug Arnold from Middlesex Hospital, and agreed to send Doug’s contact information to Alex.
5. Market research/outreach/enrollment – Enrique Juncadella reported that this group has still not met, but said that he would be attending an e-Health CT Board meeting next week where he would be able to connect with Angelo Carraba.
6. Financing – Nothing was reported.  Bob Tessier will be joining this group.
7. Recommendations/report – Marie said that Rob has agreed to work on this subgroup along with Mark and her.

Marie discussed the HIE Inventory link that was included in this agenda.  This is part of an annual survey done by the eHealth Initiative, a resource for HIEs that contains a national directory of HIEs.  The site doesn’t describe the evolution or the phases of each HIE, but contains an overview and mission statement for HIEs, four of which are located in CT.  They are: CT Safety Net, e-health CT, HealthLink (Danbury Hospital) and Bridgeport Hospital.

Marie said that it will be the hardest to learn what is being done with HIEs at the local level, and said that she feels that information from hospitals and associations will be easier to locate.  Marie said that she had spoken with Ken Lalime recently, and he told her that the CT State Medical Society will soon be publicizing a recent update of a survey of CT physicians.  Marie recommended that Ryan O’Connell’s subgroup contact him, and she also mentioned that Ken will be speaking to this Committee in an upcoming meeting.

Ryan asked if there is a start date for enrolling patients and physicians into SustiNet.  Bob said that the SustiNet Board of Directors will need to submit a plan to the General Assembly before a date is set.  Marie said that federal healthcare reform efforts will also affect SustiNet.  Michael clarified that the Board’s report will include recommended legislation to the General Assembly.  This will be due in the first quarter of 2011.  Beyond that, there isn’t a timeline yet.  The implementation dates will depend on the recommendations made.  Michael said that Advisory Committee and Task Force deadlines are in July.  Marie said that at this point Committees and Task Forces are still gathering data, but that it’s time to design a framework.  She said that there will need to be a face-to-face meeting to work on this.  There was some discussion about the meeting, and Michael suggested that there be two meetings held, with a different co-chair facilitating each meeting, in order to accommodate busy schedules.  All agreed that this was a good idea, and that central locations would work best for these meetings.

Meeting was adjourned.

Next meeting will be March 19, 2010 at noon.