This report, prepared for CCHP, examined potential cost savings from AB 415, and estimated savings of more than $1.3 billion a year to Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.  These savings would come from disease management programs for patients with heart failure and diabetes, and which employ electronic home monitoring systems.

The report also indicated potential savings from other telehealth services, but found a lack of consensus among researchers on cost savings overall from those services.

This is the FAQ document for Advancing California’s Leadership in Telehealth Policy:  A Telehealth Model Statute & Other Policy Recommendations.

CCHP has released a telehealth model statute report for California that recommends modernizing state telemedicine and workforce laws, to encourage more robust adoption of telehealth technologies.

The report identifies policies that will promote greater use of telehealth technologies, to maximize their benefit to all Californians. CCHP developed this model statute report for state policy makers, to help remove barriers to the use of telehealth as an integral part of California’s health care system.  It provides California with a platform for the ideal policy environment in telehealth.

CCHP has released a telehealth model statute for California that recommends modernizing state telemedicine and workforce laws, to encourage more robust adoption of telehealth technologies.

This is the executive summary of the CCHP telehealth model statute for California.  It recommends modernizing state telemedicine and workforce laws, to encourage more robust adoption of telehealth technologies.

 The report identifies policies that will promote greater use of telehealth technologies, to maximize their benefit to all Californians. CCHP developed this model statute report for state policy makers, to help remove barriers to the use of telehealth as an integral part of California’s health care system.  It provides California with a platform for the ideal policy environment in telehealth.   

Here is the January 2011 schedule for the SCSNI Continuing Medical Education Series, a program of CME courses by University of California SCSNI specialty physicians.  This schedule contains all information for signup and participation.

There are three Webinars in January: Initial Approach to Common Inflammatory Dermtoses, on Jan. 14; Reasons for Hepatology Consultation, on Jan. 25; and Common Problems inm Thyroid Dysfunction, on Jan. 28.

The Series is open to all SCSNI clinicians, at no cost.  The Webinars are jointly sponsored by the SCSNI and UC Davis Continuing Medical Education, and are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) for American Medical Association PRA Category 1 credits.

Miles Masatsugu, M.D., F.A.A.F.P., is medical director of East Valley Community Health Center in West Covina, a new member of the Specialty Care Safety Net Initiative, CCHP's telehealth demonstration project.  Masatsugu is excited by East Valley’s participation in SCSNI, both for the improved access to specialists and because it will help him in his research to develop financially viable telehealth networks for the urban uninsured.

Joyce White, RN, knows firsthand the value of telehealth technologies.  She is Oroville Hospital’s project coordinator for the Specialty Care Safety Net Initiative (SCSNI), a new telehealth demonstration project that connects safety net clinics statewide with specialists at four University of California Schools of Medicine.  White is also Site Coordinator and Nurse Case Manager for the hospital's telemedicine program, which provides specialty services in 9 critical areas.

Says White: “It all concerns improved patient access to health care and physician access to quality education.”

Progress Report Summary: The Telemedicine Development Act of 1996 established California as a national leader in the field of telehealth. This progress report says the law needs to be modernized, to boost telemedicine use and help California health policy keep pace with advances in technology.