Morning Headlines 11/20/14

CMS creates new chief data officer post

CMS names Niall Brennan, former acting director of CMS’ Offices of Enterprise Management, as its first Chief Data Officer. Brennan will oversee the newly created Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics.

Former Obama adviser Zeke Emanuel says digital health coupled with payment reform will vindicate ACA

Zeke Emanuel, a former healthcare advisor to President Obama, refutes the recent “stupidity of American voters” comments of MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, as well as his claim of being central to the drafting of the ACA. Emanuel says that Gruber was an outside consultant with limited influence on the legislation, that the ACA has already slowed healthcare spending, and that as value-based payment reform takes hold, VCs will respond by funding startups focused on expanding at-home and office-based care delivery.

New coalition hopes for no further ICD-10 delays

A group of 15 healthcare organizations that includes providers, insurers, vendors, and professional membership groups like CHIME and AHIMA, sent a letter to congress requesting that the October 1, 2015 ICD-10 implementation date be upheld this year.

Survey Reveals Private Option Impact on Hospitals

The Arkansas Hospital Association publishes a survey measuring the effect of implementing a state-level plan for expanding health insurance to low-income residents. The survey included responses from 80 percent of all Arkansas hospitals, and measured a 56.6 percent decrease in uncompensated care losses associated with uninsured patients. The decrease was attributed to a 46.5 decrease in uninsured inpatient visits, and a 35.5 percent decrease in uninsured emergency department visits.