Latest California Healthline Stories
Health IT Building Blocks Are Building Up
Health information technology is going to be crucial in successfully revamping California’s health care system. In two short years, California hopes to have most physicians across the state using electronic health records — and to have those records linked through a health information exchange system, using a provider directory services database.
California took a big step toward realizing those goals, when Cal eConnect announced yesterday that it’s ready to start taking bids from vendors that would design that provider directory services system.
That RFP, or Request for Proposals, will be a central topic of conversation when Cal eConnect convenes today (Wednesday) for a membership meeting.
Wireless Medicine’s Promise: Less Cost, Better Care
Starting at the cellular level, wireless devices could change the practice of medicine. But like any transformative technology, risks accompany the vast promise of mobile health. That was one take-home message from a national conference of health care journalists last week in Philadelphia.
Wellness, Cost-Cutting Main Themes at Health 2.0 Spring Event
Attendees at last week’s Health 2.0 conference in San Diego discussed ways to use information technology to keep people healthy and less susceptible to chronic problems, remove barriers to research and reduce the cost of health care.
Cal eConnect Set to Absorb CaleRx Consortium
The proposed marshalling of e-forces between Cal eConnect and the CaleRx Consortium has moved forward, and after yesterday’s meeting of Cal eConnect’s advisory group, it looks even more likely that some kind of merger will take place.
“E-prescribing is one of the high priorities for us,” Mark Elson of Cal eConnect said. “We’ve been in discussion with the California E-Prescribing Consortium about consolidating our activities in e-prescribing, and that discussion has been positive. We are now in a position to basically adopt the E-Prescribing Consortium into Cal eConnect.”
Elson said it will soon be presented to the eConnect board, though probably not in time for its next board meeting on Friday. CaleRx members meet on Tuesday.
It Pays To Adopt Electronic Health Records
Providers throughout California are about to get a significant amount of help in establishing their electronic health record systems, according to Raul Ramirez, chief of the state’s Office of Health IT.
“Our hope is to launch the incentive program on April 1,” he said. “We’ve been in contact with CMS (federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), and we expect feedback any time now.”
If the launch goes as planned, providers could start seeing incentive payments starting in May, Ramirez said.
Keeping California in Front of the Telehealth Curve
A new report suggests ways legislators and policymakers can create a welcoming policy environment for telehealth. Although the report is tailored for California, officials at the Center for Connected Health Policy say it can serve as a model for other states.
California at Edge of Telehealth Revolution?
The Center for Connected Health Policy’s working group for the Telehealth Model Statute was charged with developing a plan for helping to take telehealth out of the realm of futuristic dreaming and into the present. A report released this week lays the groundwork for how the new technology can become ubiquitous in California.
The first steps are to remove state restrictions on using telehealth in medical practices and to incorporate telehealth concepts in the laws and policies of health care reform, according to Sandra Shewry, president and CEO of the Center for Connected Health Policy.
“We wanted to think through, what are the big ideas that would create the ideal policy environment for telehealth,” Shewry said. “And that’s what’s in this report.”
Two Health IT Groups Join Forces
It seems like a natural fit. Cal eConnect was formed to promote and coordinate electronic health record use in California, and the California E-Prescribing Consortium (CaleRx) is trying to get providers to electronically connect with pharmacists.
Those two processes are inextricably linked, keeping EHRs and prescribing electronically. It’s all in the name of reshaping the health care delivery system, and providing better care at a lower cost.
Yesterday was the first time the two groups officially established an ongoing collaboration, in a joint workgroup meeting. How exactly that collaboration will develop is still being discussed, but everyone seemed to agree on one thing: It’s a good idea to join forces.
Small, Rural Company Center Stage in Data Exchange
Redwood MedNet, a small company in rural Mendocino County, is about to launch California’s first contribution to the national Direct Project for electronic health information exchange. The company’s also working on a statewide immunization reporting system.
Telehealth Network Inches Nearer to Reality
With 25 medical sites plugged into the system and the secure central connection about to be finalized, California is set to begin one of the largest telehealth operations in the nation.