This site is for postings pertaining to states - policy, Medicaid, health information technology and related topics. Mark.Frisse@vanderbilt.edu
State Name | Project Name | Total Funded |
Together for Quality - Health Information Systems | $7,587,000 | |
Medicaid Health Information Exchange Utility Project | $11,749,500 | |
Electronic Verification of Proof of Citizenship | $285,513 | |
Health Information Exchange and e-Prescribing | $5,000,000 | |
Comprehensive Medicaid Integration (Patient Data Hub) | $9,864,000 | |
GenRx Expansion | $1,737,861 | |
Open Vista ASP Network | $3,188,535 | |
Predictive Modeling System | $4,849,200 | |
Medicaid Estate Recovery Centralization and Automation Project | $124,880 | |
Using Predictive Modeling Technology to Improve Preventive Healthcare in the Disabled Medicaid Population | $906,664 | |
Health Information Partnership | $4,987,583 | |
Automated Fraud and Abuse Tracking | $576,228 | |
Secure Verification of Citizenship through Automation of Vital Records | $3,950,440 | |
One Source Credentialing | $5,208,759 | |
Expansion of Vital Records Automation and Integration Into Medicaid | $3,929,317 | |
Communication and Accountability for Primary Care System (CAPS) | $2,843,340 | |
As One - Together for Health | $1,688,000 | |
Enhancing EHR - Clinical Decision Making | $1,481,152 | |
Medical Information for Children | $1,516,900 | |
e-Prescribing | $855,220 | |
Electronic Health Record Project | $712,301 | |
Fingerprint Authentication at Point of Service | $5,500,000 | |
Web-based Electronic Pharmacy Claim Submission Interface | $75,000 | |
IT Infrastructure Transformation | $725,253 | |
Electronic Prescription Pilot Project | $674,204 | |
Electronic Health Passport for Foster Care | $4,000,000 | |
Developing a Pharmacotherapy Risk Management System with an Electronic Surveillance Tool | $2,881,662 | |
Healthier Medicaid Members through Personal Responsibility | $1,937,110 | |
Healthier Medicaid Members through a Stronger Medicaid Program | $1,731,680 | |
Healthier Medicaid Members through Health Systems Improvement | $3,895,730 | |
Healthier Medicaid Members through Applied Technology | $1,766,280 | |
Healthier Medicaid Members through Enhanced Medication Mgmt | $4,287,110 | |
Health Information Exchange Initiative | $3,043,272 | |
Total | $103,559,694 |
Privacy
All Information can be found at the CalRHIO site.
California Health Care Foundation's October 2006 Report on Health IT for California
The California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) has released an issue brief outlining ten key recommendations to help transform health care in the state through adoption and effective use of health information technology. The recommendations will be presented Thursday, Oct. 12, at Governor Schwarzenegger's eHealth Action Forum. The report is entitled: "California can lead the way in health information technology."
The press release identifies six "leverage points":
They issued 10 recommendations:
Health Information Infrastructure
The Florida Health Information Infrastructure site has complete information on their deliberations. This is a state-wide approach coupled with Medicaid reform and integrates both plan and regional initiatives.
Privacy and Security Work Group
Medicaid
Florida has an aggressive Medicaid reform agenda.
Federal Legislation
State Legislation
Summary:
Pay-for-Performance
Prescription Drugs - eRX
Prescription Drugs - Legislation
Pharmaceutical industry vendors are suing to argue against New Hampshire's House Bill 13. This bill is the first state or federal effort to limit commercial use of physician-identifiable data. Some firms (e.g., Verispan, IMS Health) collect these data and sell to drug manufacturers. Their reports show the specific drugs, and the amounts of such drugs, prescribed by given physicians. Some claim such data helps in recalls and other services. According to the New Hampshire Business Review, the stated purpose of the New Hampshire Legislature in enacting Law 328 is to reduce the cost of health care.
Rochester
In an interview, Gov. Bredesen says he listened to focus groups and queried blue-collar folks, such as a waitress at a waffle restaurant, to devise his plan. "They weren't interested in buying insurance for catastrophic events. They wanted access to the emergency room next month, access to the pharmacy next month," he says. "Let's give people what they want instead of what some advocate says they want."
The governor says the working poor can't afford $2,000 deductibles, and he questions whether Massachusetts and California can pay for their more-ambitious plans.
Public Health
Quality
Follow this link for the AHRQ National Healthcare Quality Report for TN
Medicaid
eHealth Council
On June 1, Governor Phil Bredesen appointed members to the eHealth Advisory Council chartered through Executive Order 35.
Quoting from the press release:
"By design, the Council includes sixteen members representing Tennessee’s provider community, employers, regional health care information organizations, payers and consumers. The executive order calls for this Council to create a plan to promote the use of electronic medical records by health care stakeholders across Tennessee and to identify obstacles to the implementation of effective health information infrastructure. The Council will be called upon to advise state government on how to more effectively promote the successful adoption of EMRs. One of the Governor’s primary goals for this Council is to offer constructive paths to minimize and eliminate duplicative efforts while leveraging innovation."
Members are:
General Information
Legislation
Texas Statewide Coordinating Panel
Mental Health Report
Follow this link to the Mental Health Transformation Web site www.mhtransformation.org
A February 2005 landmark report documents the economic and human costs of failing to prioritize mental health care and proposed a comprehensive agenda affecting the 4.2 million Texans who live with mental illness, their families, and the public.
A November 2006 report by the Mental Health Transformation Workgroup to the Senate of TexasCommittee on Health and Human Services entitled "The Future Mental Health Systemin Texas"
Summary 2005 findings and recommendations include:
The senate report includes the following policy initiatives for consideration:
Health Care System Integrity Partnership
On October 9, 2006, Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order creating a new public-private partnership that will further efforts to create a secure electronic medical records system, arm consumers with the ability to comparison shop for health care and provide a more robust health insurance market for small employers. Quoting from the press release:
Perry said the executive order will lead to better use of information technology in health care, empower consumers with information about the price and quality of care provided at specific institutions, and encourage more small employers to provide health plans for their employees.
The directives in the executive order are among the recommendations of the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee, which was established by legislation the governor signed in 2005.
The executive order lays the foundation for a new public-private partnership, the Texas Health Care System Integrity Authority, which is charged with developing a network for the secure electronic exchange of medical records. Serving on the Authority will be representatives of those who have a stake in the health care system: consumers, employers, providers, payers and government agencies.
The current paper system, which experts estimate accounts for 25 percent of health care costs, severely hampers a doctor’s ability to know patients’ history, what existing conditions they have, or what medicines they are allergic to when they arrive at the emergency room.
Perry noted that an electronic medical records system has several advantages, including:
“We can not only save billions of dollars on the overall cost of health care, we can save countless lives while doing substantially more to protect patient privacy,” Perry said.
The Health Care System Integrity Authority will also be charged with developing recommendations on how to make health insurance more accessible to small employers and how to empower consumers with information from both providers and insurers about the cost and quality of care provided in physicians’ offices and hospitals.
Perry also announced that starting today Texas patients will have better access to price and quality information through a new feature on www.texashealthoptions.com/compare .
At this web site, which is hosted by the Texas Department of Insurance, consumers can compare prices, as well as the average length of stay and mortality rates for certain procedures. They also can look at health plan benefits side by side, research various physicians and hospitals, and find a wealth of other information that will help them make better decisions about their health care.
Finding ways to contain health care costs is imperative, Perry said, because they are growing at an unsustainable pace.
For example, over a recent eight-year period, the average annual insurance premium for a Texas family doubled from $5,000 to 10,000. Many small businesses are being forced to reduce benefits, and more families turning to government programs to meet their health care needs.
In Texas, state government is already the largest single payer of health care costs. Health care spending in the current state budget rose $11 billion dollars over the previous two-year budget cycle – a stunning 20 percent increase driven in large part by rigid federal mandates.
“The result of all of this is a health care system that is growing wildly unstable, that offers less care at a higher price and that will eventually collapse without substantive reform,” Perry said. “Today Texas is taking steps that will help us win the long-term challenge of preserving our healthcare system, improving patient safety and the quality of care, and lowering costs so more small employers can afford healthcare plans for their workers.”
