PODCAST: Micky Tripathi on the Current Health IT Moment—and Exploring the World Ahead

The biggest story of this year’s HIMSS conference in Las Vegas was undoubtedly when Seema Verma, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), announced the launch of a new initiative called “MyHealthEData,” aimed at revolutionizing the relationship of U.S. healthcare consumers to their patient data. In addition, Verma publicly announced at HIMSS the launch of Medicare’s Blue Button 2.0—a new and secure way for Medicare beneficiaries to access and share their personal health data in a universal digital format.

Indeed, one of the core themes that emerged from the conference was the concept of patient empowerment and how both Verma and Alex Azar, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary—while speaking separately at the AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) National Health Policy Conference during the same week of HIMSS—both emphasized that a patient-centered system would be one key priority in the transformation toward value-based care.

The week after HIMSS, Healthcare Informatics caught up with Micky Tripathi, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, who was at the conference, for a podcast recording in which he shared his thoughts on what Verma and Azar had to say.

“What I thought was important from Verma’s and Azar’s [comments]—which I thought were a difference from when Secretary [Tom] Price was [HHS] Secretary, was that I had a strong feeling that Price was retrenching on the acceleration toward value-based care. But what I heard from both Verma and Azar was the opposite; they seem to be leading the way forward into it, if not accelerating it.”

Micky Tripathi, Ph.D.

Also on the podcast, Tripathi and Healthcare Informatics Managing Editor Rajiv Leventhal discussed ONC’s TEFCA (Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement), an initiative in which Tripathi feels the government is intervening too much with.

Tripathi also had strong sentiments about the recent KLAS report on CommonWell and Carequality; Apple’s continued push into health IT; and how one health insurer in California is mandating HIE (health information exchange) participation.

This podcast runs about 35 minutes in length and keep in mind, you can listen to all Healthcare Informatics podcasts right here.