Karen DeSalvo and Kelly Cronin from ONC will be speaking, along with reps. from the ACL, the National Partnership for Women and Families, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, CMS and more.

Mark Savage, director of health information technology policy and programs for the National Partnership for Women & Families, has been named to represent the public sector and serve as the consumer representative to the California Integrated Data Exchange’s board.

“Partnering with patients and their families can lead to improvements in patient safety and quality, better patient experience and satisfaction, healthcare workforce satisfaction and retention, better health outcomes, and lower healthcare costs,” Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said in a statement.

Electronic health records allow patients to play a more active role in their care and “help doctors by facilitating access to the information they need when and where they need it,” says Erin Mackay, a health information technology specialist with the nonprofit National Partnership for Women & Families in Washington, D.C.

This is among the recommendations in “Care Plans 2.0,” developed by the Consumer Partnership for eHealth, a program of the National Partnership for Women and Families.

Adding major insurers, with their large patient rolls and deep pockets, could start to tie these scattered efforts together, said Mark Savage, director of health information technology policy at the National Partnership for Women and Families.

“I like the two tracks a lot, it’s reflective of the reality while keeping the foot on the pedal,” said Christine Bechtel, vice president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, during a discussion preceding the vote.

As director of health information technology policy and programs for the National Partnership for Women and Families, Mark Savage keeps a close watch on healthcare information technology, along with all other aspects of patient care. The idea, of course, is to even the playing field.

“Patients want to share relevant health information with their provider and they want some control over their records,” said Mark Savage, director of health IT policy and programs for the National Partnership for Women and Families.

“This additional time should be used to strengthen the Meaningful Use program and ensure that it is designed and implemented in ways that meet the needs of patients and families across the nation and improve their healthcare experience,” Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said in prepared remarks.

“We recognize that the work is not simple or easy but at the same time, it is disappointing that, once again, patients and families will have to wait to realize many of the benefits of health IT,” says Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

“CMS should use the additional time associated with Stage 3 to revisit the recently withdrawn requirements to send patient reminders for preventive or follow-up care,” said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

“I think this is very exciting and it has been a long time coming,” Ness said. “I think it’s part of a much larger cultural change in health care.”

The letter, addressed to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, MHA, RN, and National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, urged them to take a look at the Consumer Partnership for eHealth’s Disparities Action Plan that was submitted to the Health IT Policy Committee on August 7, 2013. The Members pointed to four recommendations that they think would address immediate needs:

Twenty-four House members have sent a letter to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner calling on the federal government to use the Stage 3 meaningful-use criteria of the EHR incentive payment program to address health disparities, while also embracing mobile platforms.

In particular, these lawmakers want CMS and ONC to take a long look at the Consumer Partnership for eHealth’s Disparities Action Plan for guidance.

The House members provided recommendations to the administration about integrating disparity reduction opportunities in Stage 3 of the meaningful use incentive program and encouraged the administration to look at key tenets of the Consumer Partnership for eHealth’s Disparities Action Plan for guidance.