Latest California Healthline Stories
Prescriptions, Lab Results, Clinical Care Data Top Priorities for Cal eConnect
Implementing electronic prescribing in California may prove a whole lot less challenging than instituting electronic transfers of lab results and sharing patient care information across unaffiliated health organizations. But all three goals of a network of health information exchanges in the state are going to take a whole lot more effort and coordination.
That was the message emanating from a conference conducted via webinar and telephone Friday hosted by Cal eConnect, the agency leading promotion and coordination of electronic health records in the state.
Cal eConnect is the state-designated not-for-profit organization charged with disbursing $38.8 million in money from the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. The act was part of the 2009 economic stimulus package.
UC-San Diego Health System ‘Most Wired,’ Lands Top HIMSS Status
UC-San Diego Health System once again has been named one of the nation’s “Most Wired” hospitals by the American Hospital Association’s Hospitals and Health Networks. The hospital system also received a Stage 7 HIMSS Analytics score for achieving the highest level of electronic health record adoption.
CalHIPSO Still Has ARRA Health IT Money To Spend
More and more primary care providers are ditching their file folders and moving into the era of electronic health records, a trend marked by a milestone achievement in California and highlighted this week in Washington.
“Five or 10 years ago, it was a question of whether or not a provider would adopt electronic patient records; today it’s a question of when they will adopt it,” said Speranza Avram, executive director of the California Health Information Partnership and Services Organization.
Her Oakland-based organization announced last week it has enrolled more than 6,187 health care providers, mainly community health centers and small medical practices, in programs designed to assist transition to EHRs. The programs, funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, pay for consultants in regional extension centers across California to provide medical practices with training in implementing electronic patient record-keeping.
UCSF Medical Center Catches Up With EHR Deployment
UC-San Francisco Medical Center, which got a relatively late start in Bay Area hospitals’ march toward comprehensive electronic health record systems, took a major step recently by adopting a new integrated system.
Building Public Trust in Electronic Health Information Exchange
The privacy and security “Tiger Team” has been prolific in its issuance of recommendations on everything from patient consent to authentication. The group’s recommendations are likely to factor strongly into the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s privacy- and security-related policymaking.
Inland Empire Health Information Exchange Near Launch
Health officials in Riverside and San Bernardino counties have spent the last two years planning and gathering stakeholders to build the region’s first health information exchange. About 15 hospitals and 2,000 doctors are expected to participate in the initiative.
American Indian Providers Get Help With EHRs
Christine Schmoeckel of the state’s Office of Health Information Integrity was pretty happy yesterday.
“Our newest news is that we have a fourth regional extension center in California,” she said. “This is great news, that we now have four centers.”
Schmoeckel was hosting yesterday’s California health information technology stakeholders’ meeting, in part because many health IT leaders are in Southern California this week, meeting with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
New Trend in Sustainable HIEs: Fair Share Financial Support
Regulatory policy from CMS aims to incentivize health information exchanges to secure funding from other sources. Whether HIE initiatives can leverage this opportunity and secure funding from enough stakeholders will depend on a variety of factors, including payment reform.
Stimulus Money Still Flowing to Health IT Projects
More than two years after enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal government continues to implement provisions of the HITECH — Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health — Act. The second quarter of 2011 featured a change in leadership and progress toward meaningful use of EHRs.
Senate Vote Could Be Swayed by AMA Stance
On Monday, the American Medical Association came out against use of bisphenol-A (BPA) in consumer products, citing the chemical’s effect as an endocrine disruptor. That specifically includes endorsement of a ban on use of BPA in baby bottles and baby “sippy” cups, and that ban is at issue in today’s Senate Committee on Health.
AB 1319 (Betsy Butler, D-Marina del Rey) would limit BPA use in baby bottles and cups, infant formula and baby food sold in California. It passed the Assembly at the end of May, and now is up for a vote in today’s Senate health committee hearing.
“The AMA has found that BPA is an endocrine disruptor and it would like to ban products that contain it,” Butler said. “It’s all about the science. There are many medical and health organizations promoting this idea [of banning BPA in baby products]. The opposition to BPA has grown stronger and stronger from the health community.”