December 6, 2022
The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) appreciates the opportunity to provide input to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Request for Information: National Directory of Healthcare Providers & Services. AMIA commends CMS for soliciting input on the concept of establishing a National Directory of Healthcare Providers & Services (NDH). We acknowledge the potential benefit of a national directory to help connect patients with providers and reduce clinician reporting burden.
CMS references a broad community of stakeholders that would benefit from the construct of an NDH. We encourage the Agency to consider limiting the stakeholder community, at least initially, to consumers/patients and providers. We understand that a goal of CMS in approaching a directory is to improve equity in care presumably from a patient perspective, and we recognize that the needs of various stakeholders may not align, necessitating focus on patients and providers at this time