Government and Industry Affairs
Greenway is shaping the national dialogue on healthcare IT. Testifying on numerous occasions before Congress and Presidential Administrations, and taking part in White House briefings, for more than 10 years we have been involved in government relations work to advance healthcare through IT advancement in the United States.
With an active voice and comprehensive strategy regarding government relations, Greenway is viewed as a leader impacting the adoption of technology, specifically electronic health records (EHRs), in healthcare. In the mid-1990s healthcare IT took to the national stage. Since then, Greenway has remained committed to leveraging its own experience for shaping the future of healthcare IT. We saw that the federal government was going to legislate and regulate healthcare IT and Greenway was determined to have a voice in that work.
Greenway has testified and/or formally addressed Congress as well as both Presidential Administrations on fourteen occasions just since 2005. Topics include increasing physician reimbursement, financial incentives for EHR adoption, EHR return on investment (ROI), privacy, security, confidentiality, compliance, healthcare IT standards convergence (HITSP), healthcare IT industry interoperability, EHR certification (CCHIT) and Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE).
Testimonies and Statements Before the U.S. Congress
- 111th Congressional Session:
Testimony of Justin T. Barnes and EHR AssociationTestimony on EHRMeaningful Use Final Rule - 111th Congressional Session:
Testimony of Justin T. Barnes Before NCVHS Executive Subcommittee Hearing on "Meaningful Use" - 110th Congressional Session:
Testimony of Justin T. Barnes Before U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology - 110th Congressional Session:
Testimony of Justin T. Barnes Before U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) - 109th Congressional Session:
Opening Statement for the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health - 109th Congressional Session:
Opening Statement before the U.S. House Health Care Reform Subcommittee of the Republican Policy Committee
Through Greenway’s involvement in federal healthcare governance committees and expert testimony, we were able to help shape the new Stark/safe harbor regulation to maximize its healthcare IT adoption incentive to physicians and hospitals.
Greenway’s solutions and services are directly impacted and improved based on the participation in government affairs. We work with industry leaders to brainstorm goals for improving patient care through healthcare IT. Our internal teams then push innovation transferring goals into proven interoperability, regulations and standards that will improve care.
For example, Greenway, a Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) member, is working with CDISC and IHE on an integration profile to address single-source data capture at the point of care for patient care and clinical research. The result would alleviate the need to re-enter data into specialized research and surveillance applications, saving time and reducing the opportunity for data errors. The mission of CDISC is to develop and support global, platform-independent data standards that enable information system interoperability to improve medical research and related areas of healthcare.
In 2005, Greenway partnered with other industry leaders to help create the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT). This group is an ONC Authorized Testing Certification Body (ONC-ATCB) for meaningful use EHR reporting. CCHIT's mission is to accelerate the adoption of healthcare IT by creating an efficient, credible and sustainable certification program.
Greenway is also one of the founding companies of HIMSS Electronic Health Records Association (EHR Association). HIMSS EHR Association is a trade association of EHR vendors that addresses national efforts to create interoperable EHRs in hospital and ambulatory care settings. It operates on the premise that the rapid, widespread adoption of EHRs will help improve the quality of patient care and the productivity of the healthcare system.
Greenway serves in an advisory capacity on public policy and state and federal legislation with an emphasis on key congressional committees, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Administration's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Each year, Greenway renews its commitment to innovation and industry-leading activities, acting in an advisory capacity on public policy and state and federal legislation, testifying before Congress, and leading federal and regional healthcare governance committees. Membership samplings include:
- Board Member of the Texas Health Institute (THI)
- Chairman, Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Health IT Subcommittee
- Board Member of the HLC Confidentiality Coalition Steering Committee
- Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT)
- Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP)
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
- Electronic Health Record Association (EHR Association)
- Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC)
- National Governor’s Association (NGA) Health Information Protection Taskforce
- Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)
- Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC)
- National Quality Foundation (NQF)
- National Committee for Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS)
Financial incentives for healthcare providers offered by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) are still well within reach. To find your meaning in the Meaningful Use stimulus incentives, Greenway is providing a thorough and easy-to-navigate series of web pages providing the information, tools, links and resources to help your practice take full advantage of the stimulus funds. Learn more at Greenway's Meaningful Use Section.