FROM THE FOUNDATION

Redefining the Safety Net

Should California establish a Basic Health Program for certain low-income residents? CHCF's Marian Mulkey captures a recent policy conversation in a Health Affairs blog.

Accountable Care in Action

A new post on the Health Affairs blog details how CalPERS kept costs down in Sacramento through a "virtual" ACO with insurers and providers.

Career Opportunity: Senior Program Officer

This position will play a major role in furthering the goals and objectives of the foundation's Better Chronic Disease Care program.

Special Reports

Friday, March 19, 2010

California Moving Ahead With Efforts To Boost Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems

The California Association of Public Hospitals, the California Medical Association and the California Primary Care Association have joined forces to create the California Health Information Partnership and Services Organization, one of 30 regional extension centers nationwide that will help channel federal stimulus funds to safety net providers to help them meet standards for "meaningful use" of electronic health records.

Providers that meet the requirements will be eligible for federal incentive payments.

A California Healthline Special Audio Report with Deirdre Kennedy includes comments from:

  • Speranza Avram, executive director of CalHIPSO;
  • Robin Affrime of the Redwood Community Health Coalition; and
  • Carmella Castellano-Garcia, president and CEO of the CPCA.
For two years, the federal government will provide 90% of CalHIPSO's budget, providing some breathing room for the organization to develop another funding model (Kennedy, California Healthline, 3/19).

Running Time: 5:02

Reader Comments:
  • 2
  • 04/12/2010
  • Shawn McKenzie

Government funding allocated to drive adoption of the EHR is creating a feeding frenzy and land grab by vendors proposing IT solutions to interoperability and shared PHI among providers. Caution should be the prevailing sentiment.
Thought leadership "in its purest form", related to HIE, EHR adoption and Telehealth continues to be polorized by competing guiled public agendas. Professionals in this industry agree with the need to provide complete, useable and relevant PHI for improving the care continuum while reinventing the care delivery model by use of technology. The test is to deploy and adopt technology in healthcare while remaining focused on the mission which is to enhance the patient care-giver experience. It appears that governance in health infomation technology is again fleeing from the center of care delivery and relying too much on technology companies to shape and model how care will be rendered... a tragedy yet to be fully realized! Time to re-think the future

  • 1
  • 03/21/2010
  • Jeremy Engdahl-Johnson

Federal funding may be encouraging a move toward EHR, but there's more to it than just installing systems. How can healthcare data pooling lead to a better system? More at http:// www.healthcaretownhall .com/?p=2193



Readers are invited to send feedback to: chl@chcf.org