SSA seeks links to more providers via NHIN
Monday, July 06, 2009
The Social Security Administration wants to expand the number of healthcare providers it exchanges medical information with electronically in order to improve the speed and accuracy of its disability determinations.
To do so, SSA expects to publish a request for proposals Aug. 7 from health information exchanges and providers to share medical and claims information electronically. SSA anticipates being able to award contracts in January, Jim Borland, SSA special advisor for health IT, said today.
The agency posted a request for information June 29 on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site to gauge industry interest and capabilities for the project. Responses are due July 22.
In February, SSA began requesting and collecting medical records electronically from MedVirginia, a central Virginia health information exchange with links to several regional hospitals. The project was considered the first production application of the nascent nationwide health information network (NHIN).
SSA and MedVirginia exchange health information through the federally-developed Connect gateway, a software suite for connecting to the NHIN that is free and downloadable by any healthcare organization.
SSA wants to build on its successes with MedVirginia, Borland said. “We would like to expand those benefits to more healthcare providers, to more of our disability determination services in more states. The bottom line is we want to expand the benefits of quicker disability decisions to more of our claimants,” he said.
The agency must collect medical evidence from physicians who have treated applicants for disability benefits, still an overwhelmingly a paper-based process. SSA requests up to 20 million medical records annually from hospitals, clinics, physicians and other health professionals, and the number is increasing, the SSA notice said.
Acquiring the medical data from each provider can take weeks or months, the agency has said. Providing medical records to SSA is labor intensive, time consuming and expensive, and SSA must use and retain paper authorization forms to request the data.
“Automating the solution for Release of Information will save time and money for the providers and will make SSA’s decision process more efficient and effective,” according to the RFI.
SSA expects to award contracts to information exchanges, regional health information organizations, general medical and specialty care providers or organizations representing them with funds authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
