Policy Advisory Group (PAG) & Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Leader Primer Presented by: Devin A. Jopp, Ed.D. President & CEO

Overview How WEDI Collect Industry Input ● WEDI, is named in the HIPAA legislation as an advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. ● In fulfilling that obligation, WEDI works through two vehicles to collect input from the industry in order to formulate an industry perspective on key issues, these include: policy advisory groups (PAGs) and Technical Advisory Committees (TACs)

Policy Advisory Group Definition ● Policy Advisory Groups (PAGs) are best thought of as a public forum where industry is able to review a proposed or final regulation and to allow the healthcare industry an opportunity to collectively provide industry consensus and recommendations on a given policy. ● PAGs can be held both face-to-face or virtually. ● While member and non-members can participate in the PAG, votes are restricted to WEDI members only ● In a PAG, votes are registered and only one representative can vote per member company.

Policy Advisory Group Voting and Approval ● The PAG facilitators (WEDI volunteers) then take the votes and comments and create a findings document ● The findings are reviewed by the WEDI Board of Director’s policy committee and then voted upon by the full WEDI Board of Directors. ● Recommendations are then sent on to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. ● In a face-to-face PAG, each member company is given a yellow card and should display that card to vote ● Straw polls may be used as a way of seeing where the attendees stand before taking official votes.

Policy Advisory Group Example ● WEDI conducted a PAG on Health Plan Identifier and collected industry concerns. These concerns were then reviewed and approved by the WEDI Board of Directors and sent on to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Technical Advisory Council Definition ● Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) are also public forums but typically is used to provide feedback to other organizations outside of HHS. ● TACs can be in-person or face-to-face ● Votes are taken in the form of a straw poll. ● In a TAC, all participants can vote (members and non- members)

Technical Advisory Committee Voting and Approval ● The TAC facilitators (WEDI volunteers) then take the votes and comments and create a findings document. ● The findings document is reviewed by the WEDI Board of Director’s policy committee and voted upon by the full WEDI Board of Directors. ● Recommendations are then sent on to the appropriate organization based on what was reviewed (e.g. a particular standard, operating rule, etc…). ● In a virtual TAC, your company is registered at the start of the webinars and votes are conducted during the event

Technical Advisory Committee Example ● WEDI conducted a TAC on the proposed ASC X standard and collected industry issues and concerns. These issues and concerns were then review and approved by the WEDI Board of Directors and sent on to the appropriate organization.

Leading as a Co-Chair (1 of 2) Responsibilities ● Maintain a neutral position both words and conduct and in facilitating audience participation ● Facilitate the group to allow for equal discussion and avoid individuals from dominating the discussion (e.g. “we’ve heard from xxxx; how do others feel?”) ● Communicate with other co-chairs as needed ● Develop an agenda and set of questions to be answered ● Communicate with staff ● Ensure the timely development of materials

Leading as a Co-Chair (2 of 2) Responsibilities ● Identify at least one person to moderate the PAG / TAC and identify at least one other individual to serve as scribe and capture the pertinent discussion and votes ● Produce a draft document to be reviewed by the PAG co- chairs ● Ensure that the presentation and the findings document conform to the WEDI standards (insert link)

Webinar Logistics ● WEDI uses go-to webinar to conduct virtual PAGs and TACs. WEDI staff can arrange for a practice run if needed ● Send your presentation to staff no later than 48 hours prior to the event. Staff will load this into the system. ● Staff will manage voting eligibility dependent upon whether it is a PAG or TAC

Preparing Presentation ● Utilize the WEDI PowerPoint template ● Add in some slides that provide background or basic education on the voting item. Additionally, a webinar can be used before the PAG to provide further background ● Please refer to past WEDI positions to ensure that attendees are aware of prior positions and recommendations are consistent with prior positions. ● Although attendees may feel a different position is warranted, there must be new factors involved other than just a matter of having different attendees.

Voting ● Please phrase voting items as a statement (e.g. Voting item – I agree with the requirements within the(insert voting item) ● Polls are used to collect votes from each voting representative. The results of the poll will be captured and shared with the audience ● Voting items should be phrased in a clear and unambiguous way and re-read before votes so people really understand what they are voting on and what a Yes or No vote means. This has been an issue.

Next Steps ● Notes from the discussion are encouraged and can be included by inserting additional slides to the PowerPoint. ● The final presentation with notes included will be sent to the webinar participants in PDF format ● The co-chairs will develop a draft report for submission to the WEDI policy committee. ● The Board of Director’s policy committee will review the findings to ensure that they are consistent with policy and in the correct format. Additional feedback may be provided back to the Co-chair for modifications to the document

Board Review ● The Policy Committee of the Board is charged with the initial document review. Co-chairs will be invited to participate for discussing the findings ● Once reviewed, the committee recommends to the Board of Directors for approval ● The Board of Directors will provide a final review and votes on whether to approve the document for submission, to refer back to committee, or decline to submit the findings ● While the Board of Directors doesn’t usually go against PAG recommendations, there may be situations where a particular recommendation is not included in the final letter.