“The U.S. public has leaned into the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services heavily for health care support this past year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and in turn CMS has leaned into data to provide better aid back to the people it serves.”
“Officials from CMS spoke at AFCEA’s CMS Day last week, highlighting ways in which COVID-19 has particularly pushed their organization to innovate and deliver on mission in new ways this past year. Amid that work, data has been a key guider in helping CMS understand where to bolster health care aid and information amid pitfalls the pandemic created.”
“Real-time data helped the agency understand early on that children were missing routine vaccinations and primary care check-ups, noted Deputy Director for Medicaid and CHIP Karen Shields. Her office used that data to act accordingly and help inform policy decisions.”
“’The data show that … rates for vaccinations, primary care and preventive services among children in both Medicaid and CHIP steeply declined, and we were in a position to provide that information kind of right before school started in August to form and help influence some of the policies related to balancing risk versus impact for some of the decisions that were made right before school,’ Shields said.”
“Data has also helped CMS realize the efficacy of telehealth. In CMS’s January COVID-19 data report, CMS found that the percentage of beneficiaries who are receiving services through telehealth has spiked, and this information has informed how telehealth has created a continuity of care throughout the pandemic.”
“Amid changing policies and tides throughout the pandemic, data helped CMS’s Center for Clinical Standards and Quality ensure that policy and operations were running smoothly. Deputy Director Jeneen Iwugo said her team was using data to see the ripple effect of public health policy daily throughout the pandemic…” Read the full article here.
Source: Data Powers CMS’s Mission Amid COVID-19 Pandemic – By Melissa Harris, March 16, 2021. GovernmentCIO.
