National Renal Administrators Association joins CMS CROWNWeb demonstration pilot

The National Renal Administrators Association is now participating in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services phase 3 CROWNWeb demonstration pilot using an innovative Health Information Exchange approach.

Six dialysis facilities using three EMR suppliers—Health Informatics International, Clinical Computing and Satellite Health—will submit patient specific clinical data to be inspected for quality by CMS at the conclusion of the pilot.

"This innovative pilot is very important to small and mid-sized dialysis providers, and our success with the HIE will have significant influence on how CMS pursues the national rollout of CROWNWeb," said Marc Chow, MS, NRAA executive director. "We''re looking forward to working with CMS to help find a solution that assists providers in continuing to leverage health care technologies."

The large dialysis organizations are currently able to submit the data in batches via an electronic connection with CMS. Since there is not a similar option for small and medium sized facilities, NRAA and CMS began to explore using a Health Information Exchange to better automate the data collection for these groups. When the NRAA HIE was developed, CMS decided to include this innovative submission method as part of its current phase 3 national demonstration project.

The NRAA HIE securely collects the CROWNWeb data out of from the facilities'' EMR and submits it through the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN). This is one of the few times CMS has given a class of providers access through NwHIN. "We are excited about this cost effective method of submitting data to CROWNWeb," said Chow. "We think the NRAA HIE will help many small dialysis centers to submit data more easily."