Big wins for EHRs, PDMPs and telemedicine in Senate opioid package

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

BIG WINS FOR EHRS, PDMPS AND TELEMEDICINE IN SENATE OPIOID PACKAGE: Several health-IT provisions made it into the Senate version of the opioid package, which that chamber passed Monday evening. S. 6 (115), which passed on a 99-1 vote (Sen.Mike Lee dissented) includes more than 70 measures overall. The Senate still needs to reconcile this version with the one that the House passed in June but lawmakers hope to get that done fast, possibly by the end of the week.

—EHRs: The bill directs HHS to include substance abuse information in the EHR when authorized by the patient and allows CMS’s innovation center to test new payment models that incentivize behavioral health providers to adopt EHRs. Another provision aims to clarify which information can be disclosed in medical emergencies under HIPAA.

—PDMPs: The legislation would let PDMPs share data with state public health agencies and licensing boards; reauthorize an HHS grant program for PDMPs and improving their interoperability with other states; and allow state Medicaid agencies to access PDMP data.

—Telemedicine: One measure clarifies DEA’s authority to allow qualified providers to prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine. Another would eliminate originating site requirements for telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries being treated for substance abuse disorders. Pros can read the rest of the story here.

HealthITNow’s Opioid Safety Alliance cheered the bill’s passing. Executive director Joel White said his group — whose members include Netsmart, Oracle, Walgreens, and Walmart — urges lawmakers to include the OPPS Act, H.R. 6082 (115), which passed in the House, that would make substance abuse treatment records available to clinicians. He said the group was also “concerned about the lack of real-time, actionable data provided to clinicians” by state PDMPs, and “with lawmakers poised to devote additional resources toward these programs, we should know if taxpayers are getting a return on their investment.” OSA would support including language requiring an “objective study and report on states’ use of PDMP technology.”

LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION, DEFENSE PACKAGE VOTE AS EARLY AS TODAY: The Senate will vote as early as today to approve a mammoth funding bill that covers HHS, the Pentagon and a spate of domestic agencies, POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris and Anthony Adragna report.

Senate Appropriations chief Richard Shelby told reporters Monday that he hoped to vote today. H.R. 6157 (115), takes in the fiscal 2019 Defense and Labor-HHS-Education titles, which would bump up spending for HHS, NIH, and even AHRQ. (Pros can read our colleague Alice Ollstein’s rundown for HHS here.)

The bill also includes stopgap funding for all other federal agencies that don’t have a full-year budget by Oct. 1 — which would avoid a dreaded fall shutdown. That continuing resolution would last through Dec. 7. With the Senate’s green light, the bill would then go to the House, where Democrats and GOP defense hawks are expected to help carry enough votes for passage.

eHealth Tweet of the day, in response to this Tweet from Digital Health Futurist @ManeeshJuneja: I’m so glad that @sarahkrug1 cited this point during #patients20 just now #health2con [picture of a slide reading “Human connection lies at the heart of human well-being.”]

David Goldsmith @dsgold No question. I recently met with the director of a high-risk clinic at a local hospital that works with low-income pop, many of whom are isolated. He commented that some feel physical relief of their symptoms when a doctor puts a reassuring hand on their shoulder.

It’s TUESDAY at Morning eHealth. Your author is still reeling after snagging a ticket to the Paul Simon concert Friday. Was anyone else there? Tips and thoughts to [email protected]. Reach the rest of the team at @arthurallen202, @dariustahir, @ravindranize, @POLITICOPro and @Morning_eHealth.

POST-APPLE ANNOUNCEMENT, ALIVECOR GOES ON THE OFFENSIVE: AliveCor called Apple COO Jeff Williams out last week for its claim that the new ECG-equipped Apple Watch would be the first FDA-cleared over-the-counter ECG device available to the general public. AliveCor, it turns out, obtained FDA clearance for similar products in 2014 and 2017. It’s continuing to challenge the Cupertino tech giant by unveiling a new smartphone compatible ECG reader that it says could obtain FDA clearance by next year. According to AliveCor, the new device will use six leads to measure the users’ electrical impulses; Apple’s next generation smartwatch and AliveCor’s current products use one lead, while standard ECG devices in hospitals use 12.

MORE SCRUTINY ON APPLE’S SMARTWATCH TIMING: AliveCor’s not the only one keeping a close eye on Apple. Epstein Becker Green’s Bradley Thompson has raised even more concerns in a blog post about the speed with which Apple obtained FDA clearance for its device and the fact that its decision coincided with Apple’s announcement. The agency told MobiHealthNewsthat while they couldn’t “comment on specific interactions with a company, the FDA’s premarket decision is made after the submitter has demonstrated reasonable assurance of the safety and effectiveness of a device.”

The timing is “simply too extraordinary for me to accept,” Thompson writes. “I was hoping there was a new policy at FDA regarding the timing of agency clearance decisions in coordination with company marketing events that all manufacturers could utilize. Apparently not so.”

VA TO OPEN MAINTENANCE CONTRACT FOR OLD EHR SYSTEM: FedScoop reports that the Veterans Affairs Department plans to open bidding this week on a five-year IT contract for maintaining VistA, its legacy EHR system. The Department recently signed a contact with Cerner to roll out a modernized EHR system that would link up to the Pentagon’s, but still needs to maintain the old one.

NEW ROUND OF TARIFFS ON CHINESE GOODS: President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 10 percent duty on $200 billion more of Chinese goods, beginning Sep. 24, and then raise it to 25 percent in 2019. As we reported in June, medical device manufacturers have been wary of the tariffs, arguing that medical devices and their components should be left off the list.

QUANTUM GIANTS TO COME TO THE WHITE HOUSE: The White House plans to convene a one-day summit on quantum computing Sept. 24, our colleague Steven Overly reports — just a little over a week after it convened a roundtable for telemedicine companies.

IBM and Intel confirmed they would attend. The White House will also host a 5G event on Sept. 28, POLITICO previously reported. Quantum computing holds the potential to process information more quickly and dynamically than traditional computing, helping drive the development and increasing sophistication of breakthrough technologies like artificial intelligence.

Michael Kratsios, the government’s deputy chief technology officer, told a U.S. Chamber of Commerce gathering in July that the Trump administration believes quantum computing will have a significant impact on both the economy and national security. The White House’s role, he said, is to coordinate research and investment efforts across federal agencies.

WHAT WE’RE CLICKING ON:

— NYT’s Austin Frakt digs into ‘bundled payments’

— A World Economic Forum and Thomson Reuters Foundation post finds the world’s happiness level has reached a 10-year low

— The San Francisco Chronicle details UCSF’s $20 million research project examining e-cigarettes

— Stanford’s new white paper addresses the future of EHRs