CMS launches Medicare info mobile app

With help from Arthur Allen (@arthurallen202) and Darius Tahir (@dariustahir)

The longest shutdown in U.S. history is over, and the federal government is funded ‘til Feb. 15. There’s still no word on when we’ll see movement on that information-blocking rule proposal, but here’s what else we’re watching in the meantime:

— First in POLITICO — CMS launches Medicare info mobile app: The new “What’s Covered” mobile app, making its debut today, outlines the services and medical items covered under Medicare. It’s one of a few so-called eMedicare tools the agency hopes will make information more accessible online.

— Optum comes back swinging in employment war: More drama in the battle between Optum and the former employee who left for the Amazon-Berkshire Hathway-JP Morgan venture.

— Comments on EHRs and clinician burden: In a familiar refrain, Pew tells ONC that poor usability and interoperability challenges not only make clinicians’ jobs significantly harder — they also can harm patients.

eHealth Tweet of the day: Jack Altman @jaltma

Founder: We’re making important software that every business needs.
VC: Yeah I just don’t think this can get big. We’ll pass.
Founder: We’ll add some AI.
VC: Interesting…
Founder: System of record.
VC: We’re in.
Founder: Scooters.
VC: We’ll give you a hundred million.

Good MONDAY morning, eHealth readers. What juicy health IT tips do you have for us this week? Let us know at [email protected]. Tweet the team at @arthurallen202, @dariustahir, @ravindranize, @POLITICOPro and @Morning_eHealth.

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FIRST IN POLITICO: CMS LAUNCHES MEDICARE INFO APP — That “What’s Covered” app aims to help beneficiaries understand what’s covered under Medicare, historically a source of much confusion. CMS Administrator Seema Verma says the free app is part of its “eMedicare” collection of tools, designed to help beneficiaries search and compare coverage and out-of-pocket costs online. This app only describes what’s covered under traditional or original Medicare.

OPTUM COMES BACK SWINGING IN EMPLOYMENT WAR — Legal developments continued Friday in the battle between Optum and a former employee who scooted over to the mysterious Amazon-Berkshire Hathway-JPMorgan Chase health troika. (To refresh your memory, Optum alleges that David Smith took trade secrets, including confidential PowerPoint decks, to the new venture. Smith, through his lawyers, has said he didn’t misappropriate information, and legal defense for the venture argues that it’s not a major threat to Optum.)

While the employment controversy isn’t, in itself, wholly a matter of public interest, the extent of the troika’s designs on health care surely is. And Optum, through its lawyers, is just as in the dark as the rest of us, asking: “If [the venture] has no profit motive, then why was it created as an LLC?” and, “Optum’s view is that ABC’s hiring of Smith is likely part of a larger plan to lift Optum’s model or, at the very least, to duplicate or develop similar products and services.”

Therefore the lawyers would like to get some discovery to get to the bottom of what the troika’s up to, among many other legal arguments.

… Speaking of Amazon-Berkshire Hathaway-JPMorgan Chase, chief executives Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon were spotted in Washington Friday night, our POLITICO Playbook colleagues report. The three were dining in a private room at the Four Seasons, along with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Colin Powell, Josh Bolten and Bob Gates.

COMMENTS ON EHRS AND CLINICIAN BURDEN — ONC can do more to address poor EHR usability and the “ineffective exchange” of health information, two factors that lead to clinician burden and also harm patients, says the The Pew Charitable Trusts in comments to the agency. (The 21st Century Cures Act directs ONC to come up with a strategy for reducing clinician burden; ONC issued a draft in November outlining goals, including reducing the time and effort clinicians spend logging information into EHRs.)

The same design issues that make EHRs hard to navigate could also contribute to medical errors such as incorrect dosing, Pew’s Ben Moscovitch writes.

ONC is working on an EHR reporting program that could allow customers to compare health IT products across various criteria; the agency could ensure that some of those focus on safety, he wrote. He also suggests rigorously testing EHRs throughout their life cycles to “unearth issues that frustrate clinicians, while also detecting those that contribute to patient safety problems.”

NEW FACES SHAPING CYBER — Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) have named members of the new Security Subcommittee, which has legislative and oversight jurisdiction over some cybersecurity, drone security and digital network security issues, our colleague Mary Lee reports.

Newly minted Chairman Dan Sullivan (R-Ala.) will lead the panel, which will include Republicans Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Roy Blunt, (R-Mo.); Ted Cruz (R-Texas); Deb Fischer (R-Neb.); Ron Johnson (R-Wis.); Mike Lee (R-Utah); Rick Scott (R-Fla.); and Todd Young (R-Ind.).

In addition to ranking member Ed Markey (D-Mass.) the minority will include Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.); Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.); Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.); Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii); Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.); and Tom Udall (D-N.M.).

John Thune (R-S.D.) and Schatz will lead the Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet Subcommittee.

EUROPEAN DATA WATCHDOGS PUBLISH PRIVACY SHIELD REPORT — European data protection authorities released their report on the EU-U.S. data transfer deal Privacy Shield, underlining shortcomings in the two-year-old transatlantic agreement covering the transfer of personal data from the U.S. to Europe, our POLITICO EU colleague Laurens Cerulus reports.

To participate in the Privacy Shield, companies must self-certify with the Commerce Department that they meet certain requirements.

The watchdogs report said the main concern was that “a majority of companies’ compliance with the substance of the Privacy Shield’s principles remains unchecked.” More than 4,000 companies have signed up for the mechanism, claiming they have sufficiently strict privacy policies in place to transfer data outside of Europe to the U.S.

The Privacy Shield discussion is relevant to health IT companies, as well as any other global business that might find its operations complicated if the EU gets tougher on privacy enforcement, Wiley Rein’s Kirk Nahra tells Morning eHealth. “This also may push the FTC and Commerce to be more active in its oversight of privacy shield declarations,” he said.

NEW STUDY: EARLY EHR TRAINING HELPS — Emergency medicine residents with more EHR training are significantly quicker at documenting emergency visits than less experienced colleagues, researchers conclude in the 2019 Winter Issue of AHIMA’s Perspectives in Health Information Management. Depending on the product and level of training, more experienced residents could be up to a few minutes faster at documenting patient notes. That EHR training could prove especially helpful for residents in emergency settings, or places where clinicians don’t have access to scribes or alternative documentation tools.

— Stat reports on a VR trial showing patients how their tumors are being treated

— Internal medicine resident Daniel Yazdi discusses the benefits of smartwatch-based blood pressure monitoring in MobiHealthNews