In 1991, former HHS Secretary Louis Sullivan, MD, formed the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange, a nonprofit, public and private organization focused on using health IT to improve healthcare information exchange. Since then, multiple stakeholders in the healthcare industry have come together via WEDI to improve the quality of care, efficiency of services and reduce costs.
Here are 10 things to know about WEDI.
1. Five years after being formed in 1991, WEDI was named as an advisor to HHS in 1996, a role the workgroup continues to fulfill to this day. As an advisor, WEDI provides information and education to payers, providers, vendors and government agencies.
2. WEDI's mission is to "provide multistakeholder leadership and guidance to the nation's healthcare system on how to use and leverage the industry's collective technology, knowledge, expertise and information resources to improve the administrative efficiency, quality and cost effectiveness of healthcare information."
3. Devin Jopp, EdD, serves as president and CEO of WEDI. Dr. Jopp previously was COO of SCORE, a nonprofit organization providing business mentoring and training to entrepreneurs. Additionally, Dr. Jopp was chief administrative officer at URAC, an independent, nonprofit healthcare accreditation organization. He also was COO of Business Programs and CIO for the Health Insurance Association of America. Dr. Jopp earned his doctorate of education from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
4. As a workgroup seeking to represent all stakeholders in the healthcare industry, WEDI seeks members from all key parties of healthcare, including providers, health plans, mixed provider/health plans, government and state Medicaid agencies, standards organizations, vendors, affiliates and individuals. Additionally, WEDI partners with other nonprofit associations to cross-promote events, resources and announcements, such as The American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management, the National eHealth Collaborative and the Healthcare Billing and Management Association.
5. WEDI operates a handful of workgroups, where members volunteer their time to provide leadership and insight to guide the development of electronic information exchange. The workgroups discuss ideas and then make recommendations for industrywide changes. WEDI has nine workgroups: payment models, dental, health information exchange, health plan identifier, ICD-10, security and privacy, innovative encounters, genomics and virtual clipboard.
6. The Virtual Clipboard Initiative workgroup is working on a project to develop and pilot an industrywide blueprint for the patient intake process, including an automated way to collect health insurance and demographic information. The initiative is in collaboration with the Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation, HIMSS and the Medical Group Management Association. The ultimate goal is to develop standards and define strategies for mobile application solutions for the patient intake process.
7. Two years ago, WEDI produced the 2013 WEDI Report, an update on the original 1993 WEDI Report which outlined recommendations and standards to transition to electronic data exchange. The second iteration of the report was commissioned in December 2012 and released one year later in December 2013. Four areas of focus emerged from the 2013 WEDI Report: patient engagement, payment models, innovative encounter models and data harmonization and exchange. The report includes 10 recommendations to facilitate improvement in these four areas to support overall electronic exchange of information.
8. WEDI also creates and releases resources for industry members to use. Most recently, WEDI released work products and reference tools for ICD-10 readiness in anticipation of the Oct. 1 transition date. In addition to resources for payers and providers, WEDI sent letters to each state's governor asking for an update on their state's readiness to transition to ICD-10. WEDI plans to use the information to update other resources based on the states' responses.
9. The WEDI Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to scientific research and education in healthcare, mainly on the exchange of administrative and clinical healthcare information. For example, the WEDI Foundation conducts research on improving information exchange, provides information to healthcare industry leaders and funds educational projects to help individuals and organizations using innovative health technologies.
10. Throughout the year, WEDI participates in a number of events, both ones sponsored by WEDI itself and attending meetings and conferences hosted by other organizations. WEDI's own events include its Annual WEDI National Conference, WEDI-Con and a Healthcare Architect & Developer Forum.
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