Ms. Sensmeier Goes to Washington

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American drama film starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur, about one man’s effect on American politics. I recently had my own trip to Washington, and while the focus was somewhat different, the experience was no less exciting.

It all started with a phone call from HIMSS Government Relations (GR) team telling me that I had received an invitation to testify at a congressional hearing on Standards for Health IT: Meaningful Use and Beyond, hosted by the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation. This call launched a flurry of activities aimed at ensuring HIMSS testimony was successful. Multiple documents were requested ahead of time including a draft of the testimony, my curriculum vitae, bio and a financial disclosure form. We worked as a team to create testimony that addressed the House Subcommittee’s two questions:

1. What progress has ONC made since the passage of the HITECH Act in meeting the need for interoperability and information security standards for electronic health records and health IT systems?
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current health IT standards identification and development process, and what should the top standards-related priorities be for future health IT activities?

During our preparation, previous HIMSS testimony, position statements, and background materials were leveraged, and we interviewed several HIMSS members including Board members, leaders in our privacy & security efforts, our standards & standards harmonization efforts, and volunteer leaders from HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association. Multiple rounds of editorial and content review took place prior to calling the testimony “Final” and ready for submission.

Next, I prepared my oral comments which were to be a maximum of five minutes long. I boiled the testimony down to the key points that would still make sense, but could be delivered in that brief timeframe. Repeated practice sessions drove home the realization that five minutes is very little time!

Then came the “murder squad.”  Yes – I had to face a team of HIMSS experts (the murder squad) who drilled me with questions that I might be asked by Subcommittee members. I think I was more nervous facing my peers than I was facing the Subcommittee itself! In this practice session I learned to get to the point quickly, and be ready to respond to panel members’ questions to emphasize key points. The GR team provided background materials, including a list of the Subcommittee members, their picture, district, political party, recent activities, and any relevant legislation they had recently introduced or supported.

On the day of the testimony I met with the HIMSS team in the House cafeteria to share any last minute updates and further refine our strategy. We proceeded to Chairman Wu’s office where I was introduced to the other panelists. The Chairman joined us in this pre-hearing session, enabling us to dialogue in a casual setting, thus putting us more at-ease. I learned then that the hearing had been at risk of cancellation since the House had adjourned the night before, and many of the Subcommittee members had left town for their home states. However, the staff commented that the Chairman is very committed to the advancement of health IT, as well as to his Subcommittee’s HITECH oversight role, so fortunately he didn’t cancel the hearing. 

At the scheduled time we entered the hearing room, and the panelists took their seats at tables on the main floor. The Subcommittee Chairperson, members and staff were seated at the front of the room, one level above the main floor. The audience was at the back of the room, and interestingly included a group of high school students from Beijing, China! In front of each panelist were a microphone, timer and stoplight that tracked each speaker’s timeframe. The stoplight changed from green to yellow, and then to red when each speaker’s five-minute time limit was reached.

Throughout the hearing, the Chairman was very gracious and appreciative of the panelist’s contributions. Although I was not directly asked any questions, I chimed in on several that were asked of other panelists in order to address key points I thought germane to the discussion. The hearing was webcast, and a video clip of my testimony is available on HIMSS YouTube.

I am most excited about next steps, which include an invitation from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to meet next week to discuss our recommendations. While the film made Stewart a major movie star, my own aspirations are quite simple – that our recommendations on how to improve patient care and reduce costs will be implemented.