Legislature(2015 - 2016)CAPITOL 106
01/21/2016 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: Statewide Suicide Prevention Council | |
| Presentation: State Health Information Technology | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
January 21, 2016
3:03 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Paul Seaton, Chair
Representative Liz Vazquez, Vice Chair
Representative Neal Foster
Representative Louise Stutes
Representative David Talerico
Representative Geran Tarr
Representative Adam Wool
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Senator Berta Gardner
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: STATEWIDE SUICIDE PREVENTION COUNCIL
- HEARD
PRESENTATION: STATE HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
WILLIAM MARTIN, Chair
Statewide Suicide Prevention Council
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke during a PowerPoint presentation from
the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council.
KATE BURKHART, Executive Director
Statewide Suicide Prevention Council
Department of Health and Social Services
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke during a PowerPoint presentation from
the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council.
BETH DAVIDSON, Acting Coordinator
State Health Information Technology
Office of the Commissioner
Department of Health and Social Services
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a PowerPoint on State Health
Information Technology.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:03:12 PM
CHAIR PAUL SEATON called the House Health and Social Services
Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:03 p.m.
Representatives Seaton, Wool, Vazquez, and Tarr were present at
the call to order. Representatives Talerico, Stutes, and Foster
arrived as the meeting was in progress. Also in attendance was
Senator Gardner.
^PRESENTATION: Statewide Suicide Prevention Council
PRESENTATION: Statewide Suicide Prevention Council
3:03:30 PM
CHAIR SEATON announced that the first order of business would be
a PowerPoint presentation by the Statewide Suicide Prevention
Council.
3:04:55 PM
WILLIAM MARTIN, Chair, Statewide Suicide Prevention Council,
reported that he represented the Alaska Federation of Natives on
the council and, after noting that the council had been
established by the Alaska State Legislature fifteen years prior,
he directed attention to slide 2, which listed the 13 voting
volunteer members, and the 4 legislative members appointed by
the house and senate leadership.
KATE BURKHART, Executive Director, Statewide Suicide Prevention
Council, Department of Health and Social Services, offered
further support to the benefits of institutional memory by the
leadership of the council's senior volunteer members.
MR. MARTIN moved on to discuss slide 3, which listed the
responsibilities of the Council for its advice and guidance for
suicide prevention to the Governor, legislature, and Alaska
communities. He stated that the council worked to improve
health and wellness throughout the state, by reducing suicide
and its effects on individuals, families, and communities. He
declared a desire to broaden Alaskan's awareness of suicide,
with emphasis on recognition for the signs of suicide. He
reported that classes were available to enhance instruction on
suicide prevention services and programs, especially to
corporations and agencies. He stated that the council desired
to develop healthy communities through a comprehensive
collaboration of community and faith based approaches to health,
implemented at the community level with support by regional,
state, and federal resources. He shared that the statewide
suicide prevention plan was being updated, and that the council
was working to strengthen existing partnerships while building
new partnerships between public and private entities for the
enhancement of suicide prevention.
3:08:53 PM
MS. BURKHART pointed out that, as these were very broad mandates
for a small council with limited resources, the council had
decided to coordinate its efforts through a collaboration with
partners both within and outside state government, insuring
effective communication.
3:09:35 PM
MR. MARTIN addressed slide 4, "coordinate," which depicted the
report, "Casting the Net Upstream: Promoting Wellness to Prevent
Suicide," which was available on-line. Moving on to slide 5,
"collaborate," he pointed to a variety of agencies which
collaborated with the council, including the Alaska Training
Cooperative and teams from the Iron Dog race.
MS. BURKHART elaborated on the collaborative opportunities
created for communities to apply for small project grants to
fund smaller events. She noted that the council helped to
coordinate these resources and ensure that the funded projects
were aligned with the state plan, per the agreements with
Department of Health and Social Services and Department of
Education and Early Development.
3:12:26 PM
MR. MARTIN moved on to slide 6, "communicate," declaring the
council's support for the CARELINE, which handled many suicide
prevention phone calls. He referenced the statewide youth
program for discussions about suicide, "You Are Not Alone."
3:13:44 PM
MS. BURKHART noted that the Anchorage Rotary had funded a
campaign, "You Can Save a Life," as an example of the Alaskan
response to a call for action from campaigns working in the
communities.
3:14:57 PM
MR. MARTIN discussed slide 7, "warning signs," which listed
warning signs for people at risk of suicide: threats for ways
to hurt or kill oneself, out of the ordinary writing about death
and dying, acting recklessly and engaging in risky activities
without thinking or paying attention, experiencing dramatic mood
changes, expressing feelings of purposeless, or giving away
their personal goods accompanied by statements that these were
no longer necessary. He stated that these were the times when
it was so important to listen, as often this was what
individuals were seeking.
MS. BURKHART shared that these situations whereby the warning
signs were recognized and additional guidance and support was
necessary, were the times for a call to CARELINE.
MR. MARTIN directed attention to slide 8, "casting the net
upstream," and he described this plan of action. He read:
"every life matters. Your life matters. And you are not alone.
Together, we can prevent suicide and save lives."
MS. BURKHART explained further that this Alaska suicide plan was
unique among the other plans of states, as it provided
strategies and resources at three levels: the individual level;
the community level; and, the state level. It was not a plan
which placed all the direction and obligation on the state,
which, she opined, had led to its successful implementation.
3:19:04 PM
MR. MARTIN referred to slide 9, "web of causality," stating that
suicide was a result of many causal factors, which included
mental health disorders, depression, alcohol and drug use,
trauma, sudden loss, grief, economics, and lack of connection to
culture, heritage, and spiritual tradition.
MS. BURKHART added that nutrition and social isolation were also
issues, noting that the council attempted to educate and operate
in a multi-dimensional way.
3:20:29 PM
MR. MARTIN read each of the six goals on slide 10, "goals,"
which included that Alaskans accept responsibility for
preventing suicide, Alaskans effectively and appropriately
respond to people at risk of suicide, and Alaskans support
survivors in healing. He added that quality data and research
was available and used for planning, implementation, and
evaluation of suicide prevention.
MS. BURKHART expanded on the specific aspects for each of the
goals, which included a multitude of more than 40 strategies.
3:21:28 PM
MR. MARTIN directed attention to slide 11, "regional teams,"
stating that the different regional groups had their own
priorities for the goals. Moving on to slide 12, "suicide
data," he shared the consistency of the overall statistics for
the annual rate and number of suicides in Alaska since 2003. He
pointed out that both the statewide and national rates of
suicide were increasing.
3:23:34 PM
MS. BURKHART moved on to slide 13, "crisis intervention." She
explained that CARELINE was a nationally accredited crisis line,
based in Fairbanks and staffed by trained Alaskans. She pointed
to its increased role as a resource for both people in crisis,
and those struggling but not yet experiencing a suicide crisis.
She shared that CARELINE was funded by the State of Alaska and,
as it was a critical component to the suicide prevention system,
it was widely advertised and included in most Department of
Health and Social Services materials. She added that there was
also a text option for CARELINE to enhance its appeal to younger
people.
3:26:21 PM
MR. MARTIN said that the State of Alaska made training in
evidence based suicide prevention and intervention models
accessible to all interested Alaskans, slide 14, "training."
Directing attention to the QPR/Gatekeeper training program, he
applauded the Juneau Suicide Coalition for its goal of training
at least 25 percent of the people over 18 years of age in the
Juneau area within the next two years.
MS. BURKHART reported that the numbers for the training would
fluctuate due to the funding or subsidizing of the training.
She declared that a stable and consistent source of access to
training was through the e-Learning program offered by
Department of Education and Early Development, although other
organizations were more dependent on grants.
CHAIR SEATON asked if e-Learning was individualized or group
training.
MS. BURKHART replied that this was a distance delivered training
most often used by educators and staff, although the public did
also have access to training on a host of topics, including
suicide prevention, most often on an individual basis.
3:29:11 PM
MR. MARTIN directed attention to slide 15, "childhood trauma,"
and explained Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as the
traumatic events which occur during childhood and adolescence,
which included abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and household
mental illness or substance abuse. He shared that a lowering of
the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) data, a
reflection of ACEs score, resulted in a lower rate of suicide
and better physical and mental health. Moving on to slide 16,
he stated that "getting rid of the Adverse Childhood
Experiences, then our suicide problem will be drastically
reduced." He pointed out that an ACEs score of 7 or greater
increased the risk of suicide by 51-fold among children and
adolescents, and 30-fold among adults. Nearly 64 percent of
suicide attempts among adults and 80 percent of these attempts
among children and adolescents were attributed to increased
ACEs. He declared that it was necessary to stop these childhood
adverse experiences.
3:32:25 PM
MR. MARTIN shared slide 17, "what's working," reporting that
Department of Education and Early Development and the Council
partnered to offer suicide prevention and awareness programs in
10 school districts, as a part of a broader health and wellness
program. He reported that the Sources of Strength program,
slide 18, "what's working," was offered as a peer level program
by the Juneau School District.
3:33:57 PM
MS. BURKHART expanded on these school based suicide prevention
programs, pointing out that the Lower Kuskokwim School District
was the only school district in Alaska with a social work
department offering licensed clinical social workers in the
schools as permanent employees. She reported that this allowed
for mental health services to be available in the schools for
students. She stated that three things working so well in the
schools were trained adult nurses and counselors, access to
mental health services, and peer to peer student models when
talking about school based suicide prevention.
3:35:23 PM
MR. MARTIN read from slides 19 and 20, "what's working," stating
that "access to effective services for behavioral health
disorders is a key protective factor against suicide." He
lauded culturally relevant prevention and wellness promotion
programs, including the Qungasvik Project and the Elluam
Tungiinum Projects in Southwest Alaska. He offered, as examples
of Project AWARE, that mental health counselors and youth
trained in mental health first aid had increased the number of
students accessing community behavioral health services by 25
percent. He moved on to slide 21, "what's next," which listed
continued implementation of the Casting the Net Upstream
program, with a review and update of this program. This program
would include increased access to evidence-based suicide
prevention training for all Alaskans, would support services and
resources for parents and families, and would publish an updated
state plan in January, 2017.
3:39:34 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR offered strategies for getting information
to individual Alaskans, including that CARELINE, training
opportunities, and other resources could be shared by
legislative members through their newsletters. She pointed out
that, as the number of CARELINE calls was increasing, it was
important to maintain the in-state regional cultural support.
3:41:46 PM
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked if the Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority was able to fund support.
MS. BURKHART replied that the Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority was already funding outreach by the council and some
innovative screening projects to integrate behavioral health and
primary care, as research data had shown that many suicides had
occurred within a few months after office visits to primary care
providers. She shared that the funding of small project grants
issued by the trust were often community based suicide
prevention projects.
3:43:17 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER noted that he was a big supporter of the
aforementioned Qungasvik Project, as it focused on the
culturally relevant aspects of suicide prevention. He asked if
the council collaborated with this project, in order to take
what was working and use it in other rural parts of the state.
MS. BURKHART replied that this model had been developed with a
National Institute of Health grant as a specifically Yupik
model, and included a participatory process that allowed the
community to utilize and build on traditional ways of knowing to
solve each problem. She acknowledged that the council had
learned from this model, and now used the Casting the Net
Upstream program as a means for Alaskans to tell the council
what they wanted to do to solve the problem. She pointed out,
however, that the Qungasvik Project model did not translate well
outside this region and culture.
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER expressed his agreement that although this
Qungasvik Project model may not work well outside the region,
the overall concept for integrating culturally relevant aspects
of suicide prevention could be used successfully in other
regions of Alaska.
3:46:42 PM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked to know the amount of contributions
over the past five years by the Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority to the council and the percentage of this contribution
to the overall council budget.
MS. BURKHART explained that the council did not receive any
direct funding from Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. She
acknowledged that the communication strategy which the trust
funded was $25,000, held by the trust while the council
suggested ways to spend this. She reported that although the
annual council budget appeared to be more than $600,000, on July
1 of each year, $475,000 of this was given to Department of
Education and Early Development for its school based suicide
prevention program.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ directed attention to the data from the
Bureau of Vital Statistics, slide 12 of the PowerPoint
presentation, and asked if there were best practices currently
used by other states that could improve this rate. She lauded
CARELINE as being effective. She offered her belief that the
rate was not moving very much, and asked what could be done.
3:50:34 PM
MR. MARTIN offered his belief that the council and other suicide
enterprises had contributed a great effort toward a reduction in
the rate of suicide. He declared that the issue was
complicated, and any known solution would have already been
implemented. He mentioned that the reporting methodology had
only recently improved, as in earlier years not all these deaths
were reported as suicides, noting that, in his youth, "there
were no youth suicides." Consequently, with this change of
culture and the change in the growing-up process, the elders had
no suggestions for resolution.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ noted that with some cultures there may
have been under reporting in past years, due to a feeling of
shame for suicide.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR offered her belief that only recently, as
more information had come to light, there was a better
understanding of the inter-connectedness of childhood trauma and
suicide.
3:53:45 PM
MS. BURKHART shared that the council and its partners in
Department of Health and Social Services and Department of
Education and Early Development had committed to evidence-based
practices, and she directed attention to goal 6, slide 10,
declaring it was necessary to evaluate the suicide prevention
system in order to make thoughtful decisions for moving forward.
CHAIR SEATON mused that, as it was projected that the suicide
rate could move even higher although the data reflected "some
very extensive efforts," the success of these efforts had to be
questioned. He asked if the suicide rate had been lowered with
the specific program in the Lower Kuskokwim School District.
MS. BURKHART pointed out that there was a reduced incidence of
suicide among enrolled students, but noted that these low
numbers did not always reflect the entire region. As many of
these regions were very small, a small change in the numbers
often showed a greater impact; therefore, it was necessary for
evaluation to determine the success of each program.
CHAIR SEATON expressed agreement that it was necessary to
evaluate the efficiency, especially when suicide rates were
increasing.
3:57:48 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL acknowledged that it was easier said than
done to reduce the ACEs scores. He asked if that message was
also getting out to the communities, so that families would be
more sensitive to the social situation. He opined that the
results may not be recognized for a decade or longer.
3:58:58 PM
MS. BURKHART noted that, in addition to her role as Executive
Director for the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council, she was
also Executive Director of the Alaska Mental Health Board and
the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. She stated
that the Alaska Mental Health Board had worked diligently to
make Alaska specific ACEs data available to help guide policy.
She declared that "the desire all over the state to understand
how this affects Alaskans in particular is huge." She stated
that there were multiple groups working on this, including the
Alaska Pediatric Partnership and the Alaska Children's Trust.
She offered to present an overview of all the combined work.
CHAIR SEATON offered his belief that the Statewide Suicide
Prevention Council could not be held accountable to solve abuse,
neglect, domestic violence, household mental illness, household
substance abuse, divorce of parents, and incarceration of
parents, all of which were aspects of ACEs.
CHAIR SEATON referenced the research article titled "The
association of vitamin D deficiency with psychiatric distress
and violence behaviors in Iranian adolescents: the CASPIAN-III
study." [Included in members' packets] In describing this
youth behavioral study, he reported that Vitamin D levels were
tested and then compared in 1100 students. He stated that there
was 50 to 80 percent more self-reported anger, anxiety, poor
quality sleep, sadness, depression, and worry in those students
with low levels of Vitamin D. He expressed his concern that,
although these evidence based clinical studies and random
control studies showed that depression, worry, anxiety, anger,
and poor sleep quality issues in adolescents was associated with
low Vitamin D levels, the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council
has no mention of low Vitamin D or nutrition in its wellness
plan to address suicide prevention. He pointed out that this
information, as well as other studies, had previously been
shared with both the committee and the council. He reported
that there were many studies that showed the benefits from
adequate levels of Vitamin D. He expressed his disappointment
in this lack of utilization for evidence based medicine and
research, suggesting that this research for the association of
low Vitamin D levels with the aforementioned anger and
depression issues needed to be distributed to the communities,
while noting that Vitamin D could be distributed for less than
$10 per year.
4:06:12 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR shared that nutrition had been "a big topic
of our last [council] meeting." She noted that research showed
that Omega fatty acids were also a health indicator for suicide
prevention. Directing attention to chronic health conditions on
the web of causality, she declared that this spoke broadly to
the issue of nutrition. She noted, as the statewide plan was
being re-written, there could be more specific discussion about
the role of nutritional opportunities in suicide prevention.
4:07:42 PM
CHAIR SEATON pointed out that the research on the balance of
Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acid had been presented to the
Department of Defense for use as nutritional armor specifically
for depression. He opined that there were much simpler ways for
change than to change the life style or interactions of
families. He noted that the state was moving that way for state
employees, as it had lauded Vitamin D in the recent Alaska Care
wellness brochure. He questioned why this had not been shared
with other state residents, as it was reflected in the cost
benefit basis. He declared that continuous research reflected
these advances.
4:09:56 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL pointed out that the rate of suicide per
100,000 was "fairly constant" and asked if this reflected the
changes in population distribution throughout the state. He
then asked how this compared to other rural communities
throughout the world.
4:11:06 PM
MS. BURKHART explained that both statewide numbers and statewide
per capita rates were reported by the council in order to
clarify that this was not a rural problem. She offered that
this information could also be provided by region. She reported
that rural regions typically had a higher rate and a lower
number than urban areas. Although Alaska had consistently been
the state with the highest suicide rate in the nation, over the
past few years this had not been the case. She noted that other
rural western states had now gotten worse, and that the national
rate had also increased. She offered to research the question
of the increased incidence of suicide among indigenous people,
noting that reporting had only gotten more rigorous in the past
10 years.
^PRESENTATION: State Health Information Technology
PRESENTATION: State Health Information Technology
4:15:39 PM
CHAIR SEATON announced that the next order of business would be
a presentation on the State Health Information Technology.
4:16:47 PM
BETH DAVIDSON, Acting Coordinator, State Health Information
Technology, Office of the Commissioner, Department of Health and
Social Services, referenced slide 2, "Overview," and stated that
this project utilized an electronic connection to the statewide
Health Information Exchange allowing health care providers to
submit required public health data to the state in a simple,
cost effective, and secure method. This addressed a requirement
under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services meaningful
use program, and provided a benefit to both the providers and
public health. She moved on to slide 3, "What is the Health
Information Exchange?" She stated that in recent years,
nationally, the health information exchange had been headed
toward an electronic exchange utilizing electronic technology.
She relayed that Senate Bill 133, passed in May, 2009, had
created a statewide health information exchange that was
interoperable and compliant with state and federal
specifications and protocols for exchanging health records and
data. In March, 2010, the Department of Health and Social
Services awarded a contract to Alaska eHealth Network to be the
non-profit board and organization to procure and manage the
statewide health information exchange. She clarified that this
was a web based software solution. In February, 2011, a pilot
program in Fairbanks began to use the exchange. In February,
2012, the federal rules under the Office of the National
Coordinator Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement
grant changed, and the Alaska health information exchange was
now required to implement and demonstrate push-based exchange, a
secure encrypted e-mail for more than 300 participants, before
being allowed to move on to a more robust, query based health
information exchange. She explained this query based system to
be when provider's electronic health records solutions were
interfaced and connected to the statewide health information
exchange. This was system to system versus utilizing a person.
She offered an example that allowed the health care provider to
send a referral for a patient to a specialist. It could also be
used for provider consults and discussions about a mutual
patient, for sharing transition of care documentation, and to
transmit electronic protected health information to the State of
Alaska from health care organizations outside the state. In
February, 2013, Department of Health and Social Services
received permission to move the exchange into "full production
mode." The Alaska health information exchange utilizes secure
encrypted data exchange, using standards developed specifically
for health care. The patient's health care provider can access
the records without the patient leaving their home. The
exchange allows for faster and more effective emergency
treatment, support from tele-health activities, improved public
health disease reporting, and avoidance of duplicate testing and
negative drug and allergy reactions. She offered an anecdote
for the utility of the exchange.
4:24:51 PM
MS. DAVIDSON moved on to slide 4, "Project Details," and
explained that this allowed a healthcare provider to submit
public health data for immunizations, electronic laboratory
results, and syndromic surveillance through the health
information exchange to the Department of Health and Social
Services (DHSS) through its Enterprise Service Bus, a piece of
information technology that securely and discretely connected
different information systems within the department using a
combination of open technology standards to access, move, or
transform data. This data was accessible by related systems.
She pointed that it was more cost effective to move data, as it
reduced the cost to create, maintain, and monitor the
connections and avoided the duplication of effort. Moving on to
slide 5, "Project Tasks," she shared that funding from the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had allowed that the
two systems, Immunization and Electronic Laboratory Reporting,
be upgraded to allow for effective communication with the Alaska
health information exchange. At the same time, there was design
and implementation for the necessary electronic connection
between the health information exchange and the Enterprise
Service Bus. They also worked with Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) to design and implement a connection
between the health information exchange and CDCs BioSense for
syndromic surveillance. The testing of the system was done in
parallel with the previous data transmission systems to ensure
that the data was flowing correctly and being received timely
and in the correct structure. After the test period, the new
system connections were finalized.
4:29:10 PM
MS. DAVIDSON spoke about slide 6, "Benefits to Providers." She
declared that it was more cost effective for providers when the
health information exchange was connected to the DHSS Enterprise
Service Bus, a single connection between disparate systems.
Electronic connections allowed for real time data, fewer errors,
and secure data transmission. Moving on to slide 7, "Benefits
to DHSS," she explained that the project allowed for improved
data and was timely and cost effective. She offered examples
for the incorporation of BioSense data into weekly flu snapshots
to allow a sense of statewide activity. She pointed out that
the transfer of electronic lab results allowed savings of time
for data entry and allowed for detection of cluster outbreaks
with more immediate response to the communities.
4:33:52 PM
MS. DAVIDSON directed attention to slide 8, "Future Plans," and
listed some of the future plans for the health information
exchange which included: transmitting sensitive disease
reporting to the Division of Public Health, behavioral health
data reporting to both the state and primary care providers,
availability to patients for their personal health records, and
utilizing the health information exchange as all payer claims
data base. They were also reviewing clinical quality measure
reporting by health care providers to meet state and federal
program requirements.
4:37:55 PM
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked for clarification that this was "an
avenue to report to the public health the required information."
She opined that this would be a program for physicians to report
"everything that goes on with every patient they see, so you can
keep track of 'em." She declared that this interpretation
alarmed her.
MS. DAVIDSON declared that this was not the intention of DHSS.
She stated that the health information exchange was designed to
support community health care providers to work together to
share patient data, as necessary, to support referrals to
specialists, for transition of care, and for cooperation among
health care providers, especially primary care and behavioral
health care providers. She noted that the intention was to
allow the emergency room to no longer be a primary care
provider. She further explained that syndromic surveillance
data was the identified aggregate data that produced data for
the state and the Division of Public Health to support
communities in the identification of trends and outbreaks across
the state, which included flu, salmonella poisoning and other
infectious diseases. She declared that there was not any
intention for health care providers to submit "every ounce of
data that they ever possibly capture within their electronic
health records."
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES reiterated that this was still a concern
for her.
CHAIR SEATON asked if this data was for the already required
reportable diseases, or would it include a full panoply of other
non-reportable diseases. He questioned whether this e-network
would be an expansion beyond the required incidence reporting.
MS. DAVIDSON replied that it was only what was already required
under state and federal law for reportable diseases.
4:41:46 PM
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked for clarification that this did not
include prescriptions which were not reportable to the Division
of Public Health. In response to Ms. Davidson, she questioned
whether the program would be expanded to include such things as
asthma, as this alarmed her for its invasiveness and the
subsequent Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA) consequences.
MS. DAVIDSON replied that this was not the intention.
CHAIR SEATON reviewed the aspects of the program, which included
that these required reports and data were the same as would have
been submitted as paperwork, although now they would be
submitted more quickly and would be electronic.
MS. DAVIDSON noted that DHSS was now being provided reports,
which were required, that had not been submitted previously, as
a secure electronic method was now available.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked which immunizations were required
to be reported.
MS. DAVIDSON said that the requirement was only that an
immunization had been given, and there was not any
administrative aspect.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked if this covered all the Medicaid
patients receiving a flu shot.
MS. DAVIDSON explained that this only included patients who had
opted into the health information exchange through a
participating health care provider. She pointed out that a
patient had the option to opt out of the exchange. She stated
that there was not a requirement under either state or federal
law for a Medicaid patient to participate in the health
information exchange.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked if there was a written form which
explained the patient rights, and required a patient signature.
MS. DAVIDSON explained that the Alaska eHealth Network was a
non-profit organization which managed the health information
exchange and worked directly with each of the provider
organizations. She stated that although the provider was
responsible for these forms, the network would work with the
provider organization to develop the form, if necessary.
REPRESENTATIVE TALERICO asked if the in-depth notes to her
presentation were available to be shared.
MS. DAVIDSON agreed to share the notes.
4:47:28 PM
CHAIR SEATON, referencing the controlled substances data base
and its required use, asked about an estimate for the time and
cost to convert this controlled substances data base into the
health information exchange to better help prevent opioid
addiction.
MS. DAVIDSON offered to research and provide an estimate of the
time and cost, noting that this was already being researched as
an option.
4:50:36 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked about the security backup measures for
the electronic information in the exchange in the event of a
crisis situation with the need for critical health information.
MS. DAVIDSON noted that, as this health information exchange was
web based, in an emergency, access to the internet and this data
would be one of the highest priorities. In further response to
Representative Tarr, she stated that there had not been any
security breaches.
CHAIR SEATON asked if all providers of controlled substances
would have to join the exchange, or could they be members only
for the reporting of controlled substance, and not the rest of
the required reporting.
4:54:44 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health and Social Services Standing Committee meeting was
adjourned at 4:54 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Presention_HSS & Health Information Exchange_01.21.2016.pdf |
HHSS 1/21/2016 3:00:00 PM |
Presentations by DHSS |
| Statewide Suicide Prevention Council_Presenation HHSS_01.21.16.pdf |
HHSS 1/21/2016 3:00:00 PM |
Presentations by DHSS |