Thought Leadership

Through its California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) program, one of California’s goals is to “improve quality outcomes, reduce health disparities, and transform the delivery system through value‑based initiatives, modernization, and payment reform” for its Medicaid program (known as Medi-Cal). California is not the only state coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic with substantial plans to…

Funding and incentives to increase data exchange among top areas of discussion “Systems are not enough. We’ve got to make it a requirement to have incentive programs to support, not just adopt, actual data exchange.” – Jonah Frohlich, Manatt Health This week, the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS) held their fourth Data Exchange…

It’s a match that works. Like peanut butter and chocolate or Batman and Robin, some things just belong together. Health plans and health information exchanges (HIEs) are quickly becoming one of the most dynamic duos in the healthcare landscape. Like many great partnerships, there was a bit of a will-they or won’t-they history to the…

Urgency and ability to operationalize are two key areas of concern “My worst fear is that we create a really nice report that doesn’t achieve exchange and doesn’t reach the goals we’ve indicated.”  – Claudia Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Manifest MedEx  As John Ohanian, Chief Data Officer, California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS) kicked off the third Stakeholder Advisory…

The kids are not all right. The more dangerous Delta COVID variant is far from the only health crisis our children are facing. Reports are showing that children are struggling with mental health, food insecurity, and obesity and backsliding on routine vaccinations. In California, we likely don’t know today the full extent of the pediatric health crisis because so…

Scenario Development and Data Exchange Issue Identification  Last week, the Data Exchange Framework Stakeholder Advisory Group convened to continue its important work to develop recommendations for the California Health and Human Services (CHHS) Data Exchange Framework (DxF). The DxF will govern the required exchange of health information by 2024 – impacting hospitals, providers, health plans, and Californians across the state. This was the second of nine scheduled meetings; a recap of the inaugural meeting can be found on our website.  The Advisory Group reviewed the…

The big summer health care budget news was the passage of Assembly Bill 133, which expands Medi-Cal eligibility, improves behavioral health access and requires providers, hospitals and health plans to share complete health records by 2024. The bill underscores the importance of transparency and data. Embedded in this legislation is a new $315 million population health…

Key priorities emerge around ensuring equity and access for all Californians, building on existing infrastructure, and addressing patient privacy and security concerns  This week, the Stakeholder Advisory Group launched its work on the California Health and Human Services (CHHS) Data Exchange Framework pursuant to AB 133, the health trailer bill signed by Governor Newsom in July 2021. The legislation calls for…

One of the lessons from Covid-19 is the dangerous risk for our nation created by the gaping divide between public health and clinical care. With little information about their patients’ vaccination status, how can primary care providers help patients overcome hesitancy or find a place to get vaccinated? With no ability to track post-vaccination health,…

On July 27, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law health care trailer bill AB 133 which aims to transform healthcare for Californians by expanding Medi-Cal eligibility, investing in behavioral health initiatives, and requiring providers and health plans to share data with each other by 2024. AB 133 also requires the creation of a framework…