Leveraging Innovation and

WHAT’S NEXT? LEVERAGING INNOVATION

The CSG Healthy States subcommittee focuses on opportunities presented by emerging health innovations and technologies

by Joel Sams

This story is one of a series that will summarize the hard work being done by the subcommittees of the CSG Healthy States National Task Force and the CSG The Future of Work National Task Force. The members of these subcommittees will work with CSG policy analysts to issue the findings of these task forces in a report following the conclusion of their work at the close of 2020.

With a focus on emerging technologies, the CSG What’s Next? Leveraging Innovation subcommittee is examining how innovations will impact health care in years to come. Members of the subcommittee—which is part of the CSG Healthy States National Task Force—are examining five areas: artificial/ augmented intelligence (AI), 5G, electronic health records (EHRs), telemedi cine/telehealth and occupational licensure and scope of practice. During the December 2020 CSG National Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, subcommittee members heard from a variety of experts offering perspectives from medical professional associations, insight on telehealth access and a model for value-based care. Based on their discussions, the subcommittee identified two policy areas to focus on for the remainder of their work: data and barriers to access. The subcommittee’s work on data includes concerns around the interoperability, ownership and quality of data. They are also exploring data privacy, efforts to establish one-patient identifiers—a practice that reduces redundancy and improves accuracy in health records—and strategies to address algorithmic bias as artificial/augmented intelligence develops. The issue of barriers to access includes concerns like broadband and 5G infrastructure, education of the medical workforce, rural health access, medical licensure, public awareness of healthcare innovations, the future of rural health facilities, healthcare affordability and inclusiveness in an increasingly tech-oriented health care system. Co-chaired by Kentucky state Sen. Stephen Meredith, a former rural hospital CEO, and New Mexico state Rep. Liz Thomson, a physical therapist, the subcommittee is working on issues that have only proven more relevant in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meredith says the challenge of the current crisis is an opportunity for health care innovations to prove their worth. “Opportunity always evolves out of adversity, if we look for it, and this pandemic is no exception,” Meredith said. “The possibility of creating a vaccine within a 12 to 18-month period to prevent this virus is truly revolutionary and could not have even been imagined if it were not for the innovations we have seen and are seeing in technology. It gives hope for the future to be able treat diseases and improve the quality of life

for people suffering from debilitating diseases which have plagued us for decades. What COVID-19 has done is heightened the importance of innovation in healthcare. Emerging technology gives us confidence that we can truly unlock some of greatest mysteries and challenges of life.”

For now, Meredith says he’s excited by the subcommittee’s work to address two of the most challenging issues in U.S. health care—affordability and accessibility. “To date, we have had very few and very limited answers and solutions,” Meredith said. “Leveraging innovation offers unlimited potential in not only addressing these issues, but also vastly improving the quality of healthcare and the quality of life throughout our nation. With knowledge and resulting technology advancing at warp speed, I believe by leveraging technology, we have the potential to finally bend the cost curve of healthcare, which we have failed to address through administrative means.” Throughout the remainder of 2020, the subcommittee will continue to explore these issues through webinars and other fact-finding opportunities. A final report, serving as a national framework with best practices and policy recommendations for the states, will be released during the 2020 CSG National Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

EXPERTS ON THE ISSUES

During the 2019 CSG National Conference in Puerto Rico, members of the What’s Next? Leveraging Innovation subcommittee members heard from experts on a variety of issues. Here are just a few of their insights:

Kim Horvath of the American Medical Association and Brooke Trainum of the American Nurses Association said telehealth could play a key role in improving health and health care access points in rural communities. Telehealth allows homebound patients to communicate with providers and enables rural providers to reach out to specialists not available in their communities to consult on patient care.

Dr. Bridget McCabe, medical director for clinical quality and informatics at telehealth provider Teladoc, told subcommittee members the challenges of providing access to health care are not exclusive to rural communities. Urban centers face them as well. The same is true with telehealth. The infrastructure to enable it needs to be in place so that technological concerns can take a backseat to what is most important—the physician-patient interaction that allows for diagnosis and treatment.

Anna Read of the Pew Charitable Trusts told the subcommittee about her organization’s initiative to examine what states are doing to increase the deployment of broadband, which can help extend the reach of services like telehealth. She said state broadband activities include setting up a broadband program, creating a dedicated broadband office or tasking an existing agency with responsibility for broadband, establishing a broadband fund or grant program, broadband planning, outreach to stakeholders and adopting digital literacy efforts.