Knowledge Center

Written by Samantha Holvey, MHL, Director, Workgroups & Communications

2022 marks 10 years that I have been working at WEDI and managing the workgroups has been the most amazing journey. The hundreds of member volunteers that I know by voice, who feel more like friends, have taught me more about the intricacies of our health care system (and the issues) than I ever imagined existed. As I mostly work behind the scenes, it’s been a true privilege to watch and assist as our folks work together every week to make health care better for everyone.

One of the first hurdles of my tenure at WEDI was quite the juggernaut. We had several workgroups dedicated to the testing, timing, and implementation of ICD-10, the international classification of diseases, which is like the DNA for our system. It was amazing to learn and watch folks from every part of health care come together to figure out how to update the coding system without disrupting patient care.

Legislation, regulations, and updated (or new) standards continue to roll out as our ever-expanding health care ecosystem evolves, and I’m glad to know the people that are paving the way for the messy work of implementation. While issues like claims attachments and remittance advice aren’t as widely known to the public, they are important building blocks that must be correctly executed for our system to function and grow.

WEDI members are constantly working on improving each building block of information exchange so that health care processes can flow. These are just some of the projects on which we’re currently working:

• Best Practices for Health Plans That Sub-Contract Creation of the Remittance Advice
• Integrating Telehealth Data from Standalone Platforms into EHRs
• Tiered Benefits Issue Brief
• Did You Know 999 Issue Brief
• Workflow solutions for Good Faith Estimates
• Prior Authorization Inquiry Guidance
• Genomics Terminology Paper
• Value-Based Payment Models - Simple to Complex
• Health Equity Terminology Level Setting

As my responsibilities grow at WEDI, I continue to enjoy helping our workgroup members to collaborate on critical health IT issues. From our original electronic data interchange (EDI) workgroups to our new groups like Health Equity and Genomics, I am at the ready to assist in any way that I can. If you are interested in this important work, I am always eager to help new folks join our community. I look forward to learning from you as we work together to make health care better for everyone.