5 things CMS Administrator Seema Verma said at HIMSS18

CMS Administrator Seema Verma made a speech at HIMSS18, March 5 to March 9 in Las Vegas, touching on several topics related to the agency and the future of healthcare.

Here are five things she said:

1. On how healthcare has changed over the last generation: "We have procedures that we couldn’t have imagined a generation ago that are saving thousands of lives.

  • Precision medicine has opened the door to a new world of therapies specifically tailored to a patient’s unique genetic code.
  • We can now treat retinal disease that causes blindness.
  • Robotic technology is making surgeries less invasive, and we are on the verge of having the world's first artificial pancreas.
  • 3-D training tools are enabling doctors to learn anatomy without a cadaver.
  • Telemedicine is also improving access to care and empowering CMS beneficiaries to lead healthier lives."

2. On challenges the industry is facing: "We face enormous challenges in healthcare, and the value that we are receiving for the amount of money that is being spent.

[In 2017] CMS released a report showing that the rate of growth in healthcare spending is not slowing down. Despite all of the changes and regulations over the past decade, healthcare continues to grow more quickly than the overall economy. By 2026, we will be spending one in every five dollars on healthcare."

3. On value-based care's missing link: "I’ve always been struck by how seldom the patient is mentioned in discussions around value-based care. Let me be clear, we will not achieve value-based care until we put the patient at the center of our healthcare system. Until patients can make their own decisions based on quality and value, health care costs will continue to grow at an unsustainable rate."

4. On CMS' patient data sharing initiative: "We cannot effectively transition to a value-based system unless we provide to both the doctor and the patient all of the clinical and payment data required at the point of care, to help them mutually make a different and better decision than they could have today. To this end, the administration is launching the MyHealthEData Initiative. MyHealthEData is a government-wide initiative that will break down the barriers that contribute to preventing patients from being able to access and control their medical records. MyHealthEData makes it clear that patients should have access and control to share their data with whomever they want, making the patient the center of our healthcare system.

... Through the MyHealthEData initiative, this administration is focused on putting patients first, truly first, by empowering them to make cost and quality decisions, and giving them the information they need to prevent disease and improve their health."

5. On what healthcare can be: "Imagine a world in which your health data follows you wherever you go and you can share it with your doctor, all at the push of a button. Imagine if, in turn, your doctor didn’t have to spend so much time faxing records and staring at a computer during an appointment. Imagine if you could track your medical history from your birth throughout your life, aggregating information from each health visit, your claims data, and the health information created every second through wearable technology."

To read her full speech, click here.

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