Curious about the new activities and funding related to health information technology (HIT) in California? Perplexed by acronyms such as EHRs, HIE, RECs, ONC, HITECH, ARRA, or MU? At this briefing hosted by the California Health Policy Forum, speakers will assemble the pieces of the HIT puzzle for California.

The forum will begin with an overview of federal HIT policy, its relationship to broader federal health reform efforts, and the recent meaningful use (MU) final rules issued by the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT. This will be followed by a description of California’s HIT efforts and new funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), as specified in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). Then, speakers will describe two key components related to implementation – 1) the regional extension centers (RECs) that are responsible for helping clinicians adopt, implement, and manage electronic health record (EHR) systems, and 2) the new health information exchange (HIE) for California (Cal eConnect), which will establish the parameters for appropriate, secure, and efficient exchange of electronic health information.

Confirmed panelists:

Sajid Ahmed, Director of Strategy and HIT, HITEC-LA
Carladenise Edwards, PhD, President and CEO, Cal eConnect
Jonah Frohlich, MPH, Deputy Secretary for HIT, California Health and Human Services Agency
Sam Karp, Vice President of Programs, California HealthCare Foundation, and co-chair of the Enrollment Workgroup of the Policy & Standards Committees of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for HIT
David Lansky, PhD, President & CEO, Pacific Business Group on Health, and member of the Privacy & Security Tiger Team, ONC

The California Health Policy Forum is an initiative of the Center for Health Improvement. Funding is provided by grants from the California HealthCare Foundation and The California Wellness Foundation.