The NCVHS Executive Subcommittee held a conference call on Tuesday, December 18, from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. to discuss the NHII Report and plan the February 2002 National Committee Meeting.
1.NHII Report -- The final report was approved by the Executive Subcommittee and is now ready for publication. The date of the report will be dated November 16, 2001 (the same as the last full Committee meeting). It will be transmitted to the Secretary with a cover letter from Dr. Lumpkin. The report will be presented to the Data Council on January 9 by Dr. Lumpkin. Jim Scanlon will also schedule Dr. Lumpkin to brief the Deputy Secretary. Mary Jo Deering anticipates that the report will be finalized in the correct format by the end of the month. It will be distributed to the Committee electronically shortly thereafter and hard copies to the Data Council before being submitted to GPO for printing.
2.H.R. 3323 -- Administrative Simplification Compliance Act -- Dr. Cohn noted that the legislation, already passed by the House has just been passed by the Senate and will likely be signed by the President shortly. The bill extends the deadline for covered entities to comply with the standards for electronic health care transactions and code sets from October 2002 to October 2003. In addition, the legislation specifies that NCVHS will have a role in reviewing the compliance plans that must be submitted by October 2002 describing how compliance with the requirements will be met. Over a million plans are expected to be submitted. The Subcommittee on Standards and Security will discuss this further during their two day hearing in February and will report to the full NCVHS on how to best use the extra year for implementation. Marjorie Greenberg and Jim Scanlon expressed concerns about the extent of responsibilities expected from the Committee, especially considering its FACA requirements and departmental advisory mandate. Marjorie indicated that the Committee probably shouldn’t be expected to develop a lot of white papers, but should rather collaborate with standards organizations like WEDI to meet objectives. Jim further noted that we could get a contractor to look at some issues for the Committee and perhaps develop a model outline, another expectation contained in the legislation.
3. Executive Subcommittee Spring Meeting – We were unsuccessful in identifying a date in April or May where the majority of subcommittee members were available to travel for a one day meeting. Therefore, we have agreed to poll for a two-hour conference call to convene the week of April 1, 2002. Video conferencing was also raised as a possibility but needs more examination to determine technical compatibility at members’ sites.
4.Committee Membership – Jim Scanlon announced that Brady Augustine was appointed by the Secretary to serve on the Committee and has officially accepted the appointment. Jim further indicated that we still have several vacancies to fill in addition to the pending departures of Kathryn Coltin, Paul Newacheck, and Barbara Starfield. Although the Department has not lifted the moratorium placed on new appointments, Jim will be putting together a nomination package for the Secretary’s consideration.
5.NCVHS role in Quality Considerations– The Committee has agreed to assist in quality issues developed by the National Quality Forum, and the NQF conference is in early March. The Committee needs additional information about expectations and time schedules to be of use to NQF as well as AHRQ. Mike Fitzmaurice will look into the current status of events, especially to determine if they would like the NCVHS to organize hearings to address such topics.
6.February 26-27 Full Committee Meeting – We will have updates from the Department, several panel presentations, and a few action items.
Debbie Jackson will be working with Kepa Zubeldia in developing a PKI panel. We will invite Brian Burns, DHHS Chief Information Officer, to return to give a presentation on Federal PKI.
We will have a panel discussion on National Preparedness and Health Information Infrastructure. Jim Scanlon will make calls to identify federal, state, and local government representatives who could give their perspectives. We are hopeful that representatives from the Office of Public Health Preparedness, Maryland Health Department, New York Health Department or Commissioner’s Office, as well as Connecticut, Florida, and New Jersey will be available to make a presentation to the Committee.
We will schedule a briefing on International Health Statistics if time permits. Sam Notzon of the Office of International Statistics, NCHS, along with Marjorie Greenberg and Ed Sondik are potential presenters for this panel. Dr. Sondik will also be asked to return to give us a better sense of the integration among surveys, the status of the Board of Scientific Counselers, and how the Committee can be of use to NCHS.
We will also have a presentation from the DHHS Office for Human Research as well as several subcommittee and workgroup working sessions. The Subcommittee on Populations will require two hours as well as the Subcommittee on Standards and Security and the Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality. The Workgroup on Health Statistics for the 21st Century will only require one hour of meeting time. The Workgroup on National Health Information Infrastructure will not require any meeting time during the February meeting.
7.Action Items – The Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality will present their letter to the Secretary on Marketing as it relates to the Privacy Rule. The Subcommittee on Standards and Security will present their letter on PMRI Standards. The 21st Century Workgroup isn’t sure of an action item yet, but will inform us later. The 5th Annual HIPAA Report to Congress is another potential action item. NCHS will send out an E-mail asking members to look at the current HIPAA Report on the NCVHS Web site and request that they submit comments or edits for the next report.
Call adjourned at 5:05 p.m.