Latest California Healthline Stories
Earl Ferguson of the Southern Sierra Telehealth Network on Using Technology To Improve Care
Earl Ferguson, director of the Southern Sierra Telehealth Network, spoke with California Healthline about how telemedicine tools can help people in rural areas obtain access to primary care providers and specialists.
Time Is Now for Electronic Health Records
Carmela Castellano-Garcia had a good idea of what she was going to see in the California Primary Care Association’s annual survey of clinics.
But she was a bit surprised at the degree of participation among California clinics that responded to the survey, in terms of implementing electronic health records.
“About 21% of them have already implemented EHRs,” CPCA president Castellano-Garcia said. “And of the rest, about 70% said they expect to do it in 2011.”
Cal eConnect, Beacon Communities Set IT Pace in California
Part Two of a two-part issue brief on federal stimulus funding for health information technology in California focuses on health information exchange, the Beacon Community Program, broadband, telehealth and investments in federally qualified health centers.
HITECH’s Health IT Investments in California
Part One of this two-part issue brief looks at how federal stimulus funding has been allocated in California for several health IT initiatives, including Medicare and Medi-Cal “meaningful use” incentive programs, regional extension centers and health IT work force training.
If E-Prescribing’s So Great, Why Is It So Difficult?
Some people might think that since California has such a big head start on the rest of the nation in some arenas of health care reform, that it would also be taking a lead role in launching a program for e-prescribing — the electronic communication of prescriptions between physicians and pharmacists.
But those people would be wrong.
“California is 45th in the nation,” Ned Hanson, director of formulary management at Health Net Pharmaceutical Services, said. “We’ve been looking at anywhere from 8 to 10 percent adoption.”
Health Care Futurist Questions U.S. Health IT Strategy
In an interview with California Healthline, health care futurist Jeff Goldsmith said information technology adoption has lagged in the health care industry because there’s no definable return on investment and questioned whether the “meaningful use” incentive program will be successful in improving the rate of adoption.
Electronic Records Revolution About To Hit?
With all the talk about implementing electronic health records throughout California’s health care centers, you would think technology is now part of the health infrastructure. But adoption of EHRs by physicians and hospitals is far from ubiquitous in the state, according to Larry Dickey, medical director at the Office of Health Information Technology, in the state’s Department of Health Care Services.
The data are not good on just how many physicians have implemented EHRs so far, Dickey said, but it’s clear that a large number of private clinicians do not have them.
“The larger physician groups are more likely to have them than the solo practitioners,” Dickey said. Hospitals, “where you would expect much higher numbers,” Dickey said, are still lagging. Dickey said “45% of hospitals have no electronic health record at all.”
California Veterans Granted Access to Health Records
Government officials at last week’s Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco were exuberant when unveiling their plan to release millions of individual electronic medical records to veterans.
They call it the “Blue Button,” and the idea is, by pressing a single button on the Internet, veterans can download their own health information and store it on a thumb drive, so that any health care provider can access a complete health record instantly.
“The U.S. government is sitting on tens of billions of dollars worth of data — it is a tsunami of information,” said Todd Park, chief technology officer at HHS. “The idea is to unleash that data, for free.”
At a recent panel discussion in Sacramento, the information came fast and furious — all of it on health information technology.
There was a lot to talk about. The state’s Regional Expansion Centers, the California Telehealth Network, Cal eConnect and the Beacon community in San Diego are all examples of major projects to bring electronic medical record systems to the computers of physicians across the state.
“The vast majority of the country does not have the management and financial infrastructure to implement electronic medical record systems,” David Lansky, the president and CEO of Pacific Business Group on Health, said. “And starting next year, the federal government is going to be spending substantial money to providers who can show they’re using electronic medical record technology.”
Grant Money Funds New Online EHR Help
There is an enormous effort nationally and within California to get physicians — particularly primary care physicians — to convert to electronic health records. The group least equipped to make the switch are the cash-strapped, time-challenged, small-office family medicine practices.
That’s where Susan Hogeland of the California Academy of Family Physicians hopes to step in and make a difference.
CAFP just received a grant from the Physicians Foundation to try an interesting project — to reach physicians in California online, to remotely help them research, fund and implement EHR systems in their offices.