An assessment of the California health information technology landscape in 2022: summary of key findings
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Issue brief (California HealthCare Foundation)
- Author(s):
- Sujansky, Walter, author
- Contributor(s):
- California HealthCare Foundation, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Oakland, California] : California Health Care Foundation, June 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Medical Informatics -- organization & administration California
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Over the past 12 years, California has collaborated with the federal government to help support the state’s Medicaid providers in adopting and using electronic health record systems (EHRs). Under the terms of this arrangement, the state was required to periodically prepare and deliver a State Medicaid Health Information Technology (IT) Plan. An important component of this plan is a Health IT Landscape Assessment, which describes the current health IT environment in California. The assessment is intended to report the current state of health IT adoption and use among a wide variety of stakeholders, past trends in the adoption and use of health IT during the period of federal support, and remaining challenges in achieving full adoption and optimal use of health IT in the future. The latest version of the California Health IT Landscape Assessment was completed in early 2022 by researchers from the Clinical Informatics Improvement and Research group at the University of California San Francisco, along with staff at the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). This brief summarizes a number of key findings from the assessment. To prepare the assessment, the researchers collected data from primary and secondary resources including nationwide surveys of hospitals, office-based physicians, family practitioners, skilled nursing facilities, substance use disorder treatment facilities, and health information exchange organizations (HIOs). These surveys were conducted over the past 8 to 10 years. The researchers also analyzed data from DHCS regarding participation in the state’s Electronic Health Record Incentive program (recently renamed the Promoting interoperability Program), as well as results from a state-funded initiative to increase hospital and physician participation in California HIOs. Although the survey data and DHCS data generally provide meaningful sample sizes, many of the data points extend only through 2018 or 2019 and, therefore, provide a slightly lagged snapshot of the current landscape. Finally, in 2021 and 2022, the researchers interviewed over two dozen health IT leaders and stakeholders in California to collect expert, albeit anecdotal, information about key aspects of the current health IT landscape. The Medi-Cal EHR Incentive Program drew to a close at the end of 2021. However, the state has ambitious plans to leverage the increased adoption and use of health IT that the program spurred to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Medi-Cal. Specifically, the CalAIM (California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal) program intends to modernize the delivery of health care and other social benefits by integrating the provision and management of numerous state-run programs. This initiative relies on the streamlined electronic sharing of enrollees’ medical, behavioral, and social service data, a task heavily dependent on effective and widespread health IT. To facilitate such sharing, the state has also launched the California Health and Human Services Data Exchange Framework. This initiative will establish a single data sharing agreement and common set of policies and procedures to govern and require the exchange of health information among health care entities and government agencies in California. The current health IT landscape, as objectively characterized in the recent landscape assessment, helps to inform the planning and execution of these important modernization projects.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (13 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918557476206676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918557476206676