Latest California Healthline Stories
Stakeholders Map Out Next Tasks for HIE
The health information exchange revolution is under way in California.
“There is tremendous enthusiasm across the state for what’s happening in HIE,” according to David Lansky of the Pacific Business Group on Health, who spoke at yesterday’s Health Information Exchange Stakeholder Summit 2011 in Sacramento.
“We represent large purchasers of health insurance, so in a way it’s odd that we’re so involved in this,” Lansky said. “But we feel HIE is a critical, foundational support tool for transforming the health care delivery system.” The health care reform effort aims to make health care affordable and high-quality, he said, “And we can’t make it succeed without this project.”
Telehealth May Be Led by Telederm
April Armstrong thinks the medical specialty that’s perfect for California’s nascent telehealth system is dermatology.
“Dermatology is visual,” according to Armstrong, director of the teledermatology program at UC-Davis Medical Center. “That’s the great thing about it, why it’s so suitable for telehealth, is that it’s a visual field. If the image quality is clear, you can tell a lot.”
Today, the Center for Connected Health Policy is scheduled to release an issue brief Armstrong authored on teledermatology. The brief was funded by the California HealthCare Foundation, which publishes California Healthline.
New Law on Telehealth May Mean Better Care, Easy Access
A new telehealth law in California will institute a series of small regulatory changes that could affect the number of health care providers who can participate in telehealth and the number of patients who might benefit from it.
Federal Health IT Activity Heats Up in Q3 2011
There were numerous federal health information technology developments during the third quarter of 2011. For example, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released its final health IT strategic plan, and President Obama proclaimed a week in September as National Health IT Week.
State Readies Medicaid EHR Incentive Program
California health care providers could corral as much as $1.4 billion in federal incentive money for the meaningful use of electronic health records. The state recently launched a staggered application process for its Medicaid portion of the program.
The Next Five Years in Health IT: ONC’s Plan for the Future
The recently released Federal Health IT Strategic Plan outlines the federal government’s goals for using health information technology to improve health care over the next five years. The plan incorporates policy priorities included in the HITECH Act and the health reform law.
Wendy Everett of NEHI Discusses How New Technologies Can Improve Care, Cut Costs
Wendy Everett, founding president of the New England Healthcare Institute, spoke with California Healthline about efforts to encourage health care providers to adopt innovative electronic health systems that could improve health care quality and reduce costs.
Process Opens To Get Federal EHR Incentive Money
For Raul Ramirez, it has been a long time coming.
“This is a big day for providers, for the state. This is a big day for California,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez, chief of the Department of Health Care Services’ Office of Health Information Technology, was talking about this week’s initial processing of applications for up to $1.4 billion in federal funds for the state’s electronic health record incentive program.
Health 2.0 Conference Focuses on Patient-Centered Technology To Promote Wellness
Jonathan Attwood of Zamzee, Stephen Downs of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Chris Hewett of Mindbloom, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari and Christine Robins of BodyMedia spoke with California Healthline about new consumer-focused health innovations.
Data Take Center Stage at Health 2.0 Conference
As efforts to get consumers actively involved in health information technology mature, the focus at the Fifth Annual Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco showed an evolutionary shift away from getting the conversation started and toward deciding what to talk about.