Federal employees have the opportunity to take advantage of electronic personal health records and other health information technology that let them take more control of their health care that is enjoyed by few employees in the private sector.
That’s because the Office of Personnel Management made health IT and cost transparency — in which information on health costs is published online — key provisions of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
The emphasis on health IT stems from a presidential executive order issued in August 2006 to promote quality and efficient health care in government. The Office of Management and Budget also incorporated health care into the President’s Management Agenda, requiring agencies that administer or sponsor health care to improve the quality and efficiency of their systems.
OPM pushes out health IT benefits, along with its other health benefits and services, through partnerships with private health plans, said Dan Green, OPM’s deputy associate director for employee and family support policy in the Strategic Human Resources Policy Division.
OPM contracts with private-sector health plans for employer-sponsored health coverage for 8 million civilian employees and their families. Those participating health plans in turn contract with medical providers who provide the benefits and services for federal enrollees, Green said. OPM leads by pushing requirements out through these layers.
“The rubber hits the road at the provider level,” he said.
OPM also relies on constant communications with its business partners and details its expectations for their progress in health IT, cost transparency and other benefits in annual program letters to carriers. OPM makes those letters available online, and it also posts insurance plans’ health IT progress and their costs for common conditions on the agency’s Web site.
Last year, OPM required its carriers to begin reporting progress on providing health information technology, their personal health record adoption, and their quality and cost transparency initiatives. OPM will update that report later this fall, Green said.
“The use of PHRs isn’t yet where we’d like to see it and where the capacity is,” Green said. “It will take more education of employees.”
Digg
De.licio.us
Slashdot
Technorati
