As the call for prior authorization reform continues to make headlines and drive high-level conversations among healthcare industry stakeholders, the discussion surrounding the topic will continue at WEDI 2017- Driving Solutions in a Changing Healthcare Environment – taking place May 15-18, 2017 in Los Angeles, Calif. Hosted by the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), the nation’s leading nonprofit authority on the use of health IT to create efficiencies in healthcare information exchange and a trusted advisor to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the event will feature two main sessions focusing on prior authorization.

WEDI President and CEO Charles W. Stellar, who recently joined a panel session at the 2017 HIMSS Annual Convention and Exhibition to discuss prior authorization pain points and how healthcare organizations need to engage in dialogue in order to help lessen payer and provider frustrations, will deliver remarks at the first prior authorization session taking place on Wednesday, May 17 while executives from Aetna and the American Medical Association will present at the latter.

“With a change in HHS leadership and the call for prior authorization reform sweeping our industry, we are, I believe, at a time where dialogue surrounding prior authorization can and should be restored between payers and providers in order to come to a solution that benefits all parties without compromising patient care,” said Stellar. “Attending a WEDI conference session, like the one on prior authorization, provides individuals with the opportunity to actively participate in high-level discussions shaping the healthcare landscape through direct access to industry influencers. We’re looking forward to continuing this important dialogue between key industry stakeholders at WEDI’s National Conference.”

The discussion surrounding prior authorization is not new to WEDI as a workgroup was formed last year to evaluate barriers, business cases, current workflows, and return-on-investment related to prior authorization. Co-chaired by the American Medical Association, who recently released a survey of practicing physicians on the topic, and a payer organization, the group looks to foster enhanced collaboration between payers and providers and support prior authorization processes being performed with a focus on increased value, automation, and efficiency. With prior authorization reform becoming an industry focus, WEDI announced during the HIMSS17 session that they will facilitate a Prior Authorization Council which will focus on bringing payers and providers together to not only discuss reform but bring feedback on the topic to industry change agents who can help implement the Council’s recommendations.

WEDI 2017 kicks-off with a pre-conference privacy and cybersecurity forum on Monday, May 15 featuring experts from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, MarkLogic and Prime Healthcare who will discuss critical topics such as “Cyber Threatscape Affecting the Healthcare Industry,” “How Operationalizing All of Your Data Can Help Guide

You Through the Uncertainty,” and “Building a Healthcare Risk Management Organization,” followed by a discussion on current and future projects by the WEDI Privacy and Security Workgroup. George Halvorson, chair and CEO of the Institute for InterGroup Understanding and former CEO of Kaiser Permanente and HealthPartners, will deliver the main conference’s opening keynote on Tuesday, May 16. 

Additionally throughout the main conference, a host of industry leaders and influencers will lead discussions focused on the three main themes of the business of health IT, administrative functions and healthcare consumerism. A complete conference agenda can be found here.

The conference will conclude with a special event – WEDI workgroup working sessions which will be held through the morning Thursday and will provide a special opportunity for workgroup members to meet face-to-face, collect input, exchange ideas and make recommendations for changes in the industry, as well as an opportunity for other interested parties to sit in and understand some of the projects of focus. 

WEDI 2017 is open to all interested healthcare stakeholders across provider, payer, vendor and government entities. Both WEDI members and non-members can visit the WEDI 2017 Conference page to register online and for information on discounted room rates.