Our February Health TechNet was held on Friday, the 17th, from noon to 2 pm at the headquarters of General Dynamics Health Solutions at Fairview Park near Tysons Corner, Virginia.
The feature topic was an update on the MACRA program under Medicare (the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 and its Merit Based Incentive System (MIPS), which is one of the most important developments due to come into effect in the coming years. (2017 is the Baseline Performance Year.) MACRA will have a dramatic effect on the way physicians are reimbursed pursuant to value based payment systems. Joining us to present on MACRA was Nathan Bays, who is the General Counsel and Executive Director of the Health Management Academy. Nathan speaks frequently around the country on this subject and is a true expert on this legislation, the regulations, and their implications.
Nathan also updated us on the Academy’s perspective on public policy developments affecting healthcare systems, based on his leadership of the Academy Advisors, a group comprised of government relations officials of many of the nation’s leading hospital systems.
Also, representatives of General Dynamics presented and demonstrated their Breach Analysis Calculator, which is a tool that GD Health Solutions developed and will be presenting at HIMSS17 in Orlando. The number and complexity of cyber attacks increases as hackers find new ways to monetize their efforts and strengthen their ability to access critical systems and data. Through the use of the Breach Analysis Calculator, General Dynamics Health Solutions aims to help healthcare organizations formulate a dollar value estimate of the risk associated with handling personal health information and/or personally identifiable information based on the probability of a breach.