Influencing Policy

The Public Policy and Advocacy module of the Toolkit provides information on state and federal policy issues, as well as methods for advocating for policy change at federal, state and local levels.

Despite an emerging consensus among public policy markers at national and state levels that health information technology (HIT) and health information exchange (HIE) can play a key role in addressing the mounting challenges facing our nation’s health care system, there remain significant legislative and regulatory changes that must take place to translate this consensus into reality. For example, a lack of standards prevent interoperability across systems; Stark and anti-kickback laws hamper physician adoption of HIT as do the lack of incentives for using HIT that encourage interoperability, point of care data transmission/access and aligning both costs and benefits of eHealth adoption. Also, privacy and confidentiality concerns over personal medical information, while not technically daunting, are nevertheless political obstacles to overcome.

Advocating for policy change at state and local levels is essential to addressing these and other challenges. Fortunately, proponents of health information technology (HIT) and health information exchange (HIE) have allies within their own communities, their states and at the national level,  and there are resources available to assist them in this effort. Coming together to effect policy change by building a grass roots network can be a powerful and effective tool.  Grassroots advocacy is especially effective when many individual members of an organization contact their Representatives on a particular issue. 

Federal agency initiatives across a broad range of departments are now underway to accelerate the development and adoption of both HIT and HIE.  Extensive work is being conducted within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and other departments and agencies.

The Public Policy and Advocacy module provides information for communities on how to get started in this process. The module provides unique tools to help organizations let their Representatives know that their support of health information exchange is critical to saving lives and improving the quality and efficiency of health care.

Click HERE for policy imperatives.

As a multi-stakeholder consortium, the eHealth Initiative (eHI) works with its diverse members – including practicing clinicians, health plans, employers and healthcare purchasers, healthcare information technology suppliers, hospitals and other providers, laboratory and pharmacy groups, pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, and patient and consumer groups – to address the policy challenges noted above. 

The Public Policy and Advocacy module of the Connecting Communities Toolkit provides:

• Common principles;
• Roadmap;
• Community Experiences; and
• Comprehensive tools and resources to help organizations advocate for policy change.