California Health IT Pilot Influences National Effort
CMS last week launched an online application to help physician practices put into place health information technology applications after piloting the program in California and three other states, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
The Doctor's Office Quality Information Technology University, or DOQ-IT U, will focus on single and small- to medium-size physician practices. Tutorials in the program will address:
- Cultural change;
- Vendor selection;
- Operational configuration; and
- Clinical processes.
Lumetra, a San Francisco not-for-profit organization, administered the pilot program in California. About 1,000 physicians participated in the California initiative and as a result are eligible to participate in a Medicare pay-for-performance program, according to Jeff Flick, the head of CMS' West Coast operations.
Lumetra officials said about 31% of small physician practices installed electronic health records systems during the pilot program in California, compared to 17.6% nationwide.
Nationwide, quality improvement organizations in each state and the District of Columbia will administer the program through contracts with CMS (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 4/23). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.