Becker's Hospital Review

55 CIO / HEALTH IT Why Epic is opposing new interoperability, transparency rules By Giles Bruce E pic, the nation's largest EHR vendor, opposed some proposed changes by ONC that the agency says will improve interoperability, healthcare data exchange and health IT transparency. For instance, the vendor opposed the transparency requirements for certified health IT developers' predictive decision support models, saying they would hurt innovation, and said the definition of the predictive model should be limited to clinical or cognitive computing rather than administrative or operational tools, according to a public comment submitted in June by Ladd Wiley, a lobbyist for Epic. e vendor also said the proposal to hide clinical data from providers puts patients at risk, adds huge documentation requirements for clinicians, and is technically "unworkable." Epic also said ONC should encourage participation in the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, or TEFCA, by requiring requesters of information to explain why joining the consortium is infeasible. "Although we support many of ONC's topline goals, ONC should make important changes to the proposal so that the final regulation is safe for patients, technically feasible, and aligned with the needs of healthcare organizations," Mr. Wiley wrote. n Billing for MyChart has not solved physicians' excessive email problem By Naomi Diaz H ospitals and health systems around the U.S. began charging for patient messages sent through patient portals as their clinicians became inundated with 50 percent more messages aer the pandemic, but the charges haven't necessarily stopped the influx of messages, NPR reported July 21. "Physicians who receive a ton of portal messages tend to report being burned out, tend to report being more cynical about their job, tend to report that they are thinking about leaving clinical practice," said Jay Holmgren, researcher for healthcare IT at the University of California San Francisco. ese reasons caused health systems such as Cleveland Clinic, Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine and Seattle-based UW Medicine to begin billing for messages sent via MyChart to ensure physicians could be compensated for their work and to deter patients from excessive emailing. But the charges haven't stopped these issues, according to NPR. Mr. Holmgren's research shows that physicians only bill for about 3 percent of messages they receive and are still receiving a high volume of emails, with the fees having only led to a 2 percent decline in the number of messages. n Cleveland Clinic CIO to move to Inova By Naomi Diaz F alls Church, Va.-based Inova has named Matthew Kull as its new chief information and digital officer. He will join the health system on Aug. 7. In this role, Mr. Kull will be responsible for IT services including applications, program management, data, security, technical infrastructure, clinical engineering and support services, according to a July 17 press release from Inova. Mr. Kull most recently served as CIO of Cleveland Clinic. There, he oversaw digital and technology functions across the health system's 200 sites and more than 75,000 employees. n Cleveland Clinic names interim CIO By Naomi Diaz C leveland Clinic named Sarah Hatchett as its new interim CIO as its current CIO is slated to join Falls Church, Va.-based Inova on Aug. 7. Ms. Hatchett stepped into the role in June after serving as the health system's associate CIO since 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile. The news comes after Inova announced July 18 that Matthew Kull, CIO of Cleveland Clinic since 2015, would become chief information and digital officer of Inova. At Cleveland Clinic, Mr. Kull oversaw digital and technology functions across the health system's 200 sites and more than 75,000 employees. n

• Cover