California State Health Information Exchange Efforts
Substantial federal stimulus funds have been earmarked under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act to support activities and research related to health information exchange. A portion of these funds will go towards the establishment of multidisciplinary Centers for Health Care Information Enterprise Integration (HCIEI). The purpose of these centers will be to conduct cutting-edge Health IT research, addressing systems challenges to health care delivery and developing new health information technologies to achieve the vision of HCIEI. Funds will be distributed in a highly competitive national grant-making process.
The California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) invites you to provide your leadership, expertise, and perspective for an important Health IT initiative. CHHS has set up a Research and New Technologies Workgroup, which has been chartered to develop the strategic plan for a California-based HCIEI Research Center Consortium. They ask for your help in two ways:
- Read the June 1st weekly bulletin, which includes important updates and information, and please take the time to complete these three important 5-10 minute surveys:
- Please go to the Workgroup information page. Email hie@chhs.ca.gov with questions or to sign up. The Workgroup will close to new participants on July 1. An aggressive timeline of mid-August is in place for publication of the final draft of the strategic plan, so now is the time to get involved, have your voice heard, and shape the process.
CHHS has hired a contractor to develop a website that will have better capability to support their efforts (expected completion end of June). They also have deployed a Wiki to support the new work groups (four groups, 12 subcommittees), and are sending out a weekly bulletin with the week’s updates (link is above).
Forward this information on to your constituents and those you feel should be informed and engaged in what this group is trying to accomplish.
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CSRHA Launches ARRA Rural Resources Webpage
The California State Rural Health Association (CSRHA) has launched an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Rural Resources webpage to serve as an information resource to California's rural communities interested in accessing federal funds available through the ARRA. These funds will be crucial to maintaining and ensuring the health and wellness of California's 5 million rural residents.
The site contains Federal and State background resources on the ARRA, funding information, links to categorical and broad analyses on the opportunities and impact of the ARRA, and critical websites to continually visit for up-to-date information.
Furthermore, the site contains a Rural Health Funding Matrix adapted from Rural Health and the ARRA (NRHA, May 2009) and Selected Provisions Relevant to RuralHealth Care in the ARRA (CSRHA, March 2009). The purpose of the matrix is to provide funding information in an navigable and comprehensive format.
Please forward any feedback or updates to the webpage to CSRHA Communications Coordinator, Omar Sahak.
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Telephone: (916) 453-0780| Fax: (916) 453-0783
E-mail: advocate@csrha.org
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