Pictured left to right: Jennifer Vachon, Executive Vice President, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association; Paul Markovich, President & CEO, Blue Shield of California; JD Hickey, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee; Dan Hilferty, Chief Executive Officer, Independence Blue Cross
At the international Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Orlando, Independence CEO Daniel Hilferty spoke on a panel with the leaders of the Blue Shield plans in California and Tennessee. In their discussion, titled “Data Rich, Information Poor — Breaking Barriers and Driving Innovation,” the executives talked about how to achieve an interoperable health care ecosystem that shares all the health information necessary for care among patients, providers, and payers.
The session was particularly timely given recent policy changes proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services aimed at supporting seamless and secure access to, exchange of, and use of electronic health information with no cost to consumers.
In addition, Independence data architect Michael Gould participated in a panel discussion and demonstration at a HIMSS interoperability Showcase exhibit about the Da Vinci project. The Da Vinci Project is a coalition of payers, providers, and EMR/HIT vendors seeking to streamline data standardization and access to improve clinical, quality, cost, and care management outcomes. Independence was one of the first payers to join the project in 2017.