117.997           Medical Smart Cards:

MSSNY will:

  1. educate its members through News of New York, the MSSNY website and other appropriate means of communication, regarding the benefits, technology and availability of medical smart cards, and keep members informed of developments and opportunities in this emerging technology.
  1. communicate with health care organizations and health insurance plans throughout New York State to urge the development and use of medical smart cards for the purposes of:
    1. making patients’ information readily available;
    2. simplifying the task of eligibility verification in physician offices, and
    3. enhancing and ensuring HIPAA compliance with conversion of paper-based health care information to electronic systems that guarantee the privacy and security of patient information gathered as part of providing health care.
  1. work with health care insurers and agencies to ensure that physicians do not incur any added expenses to incorporate the use of a health insurer’s / agency’s generated medical smart card into their practice. In addition MSSNY urge those entities, including vendors, which currently charge physicians a fee for smart card readers to provide these free or at a steep discount for MSSNY members.
  1. develop a collaborative working relationship with the HANYS’ newly created Office of Health Information Technology Transformation, which is studying the development of sustainable health information exchanges on community, regional, and state levels (Regional Health information Organizations or RHIOs). In addition, MSSNY will strive to become an active participant in the GNYHA newly created New York Clinical Information Exchange (NYCLIX) whose goal is to “increase patient safety and the efficiency of care by creating a virtual network for sharing of patient data among health care entities for the purpose of treatment.” NYCLIX is now embarking on the planning phase in order to create implementation of patient data sharing. Both of these initiatives (HANYS and GNYHA) are unique opportunities for MSSNY to provide physician input and expertise at the early stages of these projects.
  1. prepare a resolution to be forwarded to the AMA House of Delegates to study and develop a “white paper” on the issue of medical smart cards, including the role of organized medicine and specific implications for physicians, patients and healthcare, in general. (Council 1/25/09; Reaffirmed HOD 2019)