BILL ANALYSIS
AB 598
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Date of Hearing: May 20, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 598 (De La Torre) - As Amended: May 5, 2009
Policy Committee: Health Vote:13-5
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the California Health Information Network
(network), with a specified advisory board within the California
Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA). Requires the network to
adopt health information exchange standards (HIE) by July 2010
and address a dozen goals including standardization of health
transactions, gathering health data statewide, reducing
administrative burdens on government, increasing uniformity of
information exchanged between providers and health care
settings, and providing health consumers access to health
information.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Unknown costs in the range of $300,000 (GF) for HHSA and the
network advisory board to complete substantial
California-specific work on numerous objectives in a short
time period.
2)This bill may help California access incentives included in
the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical
Health (HITEACH) Act, a component of the federal American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). HITEACH provides $36
billion (federal) over six years for HIT infrastructure and
provider adoption incentives. Estimates have identified more
than $3 billion in funding that California providers will
access in the next several years. This bill helps provide
specificity to California planning efforts and statutory
changes.
COMMENTS
AB 598
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1) Rationale . This bill requires HHSA to oversee the network to
adopt health information exchange standards that ensure the
uniformity of in the electronic exchange of clinical health
information. Examples of health information exchange
standards include messaging standards to ensure sharing of
patient data, order entry, and appointment scheduling.
Another example is standard connections that allow providers
to plug into hardware and software to monitor data through
telehealth services.
2) California Health Information Technology . The Legislative
Analyst's Office (LAO) and RAND have each recently evaluated
the impact of HIT adoption, such as electronic health records
and personal health records. The LAO confirmed that
paper-based medical records contribute to cost and quality
concerns in health care by reducing efficiency and increasing
medical errors that harm health. The LAO identified the many
benefits of HIT and the numerous efforts within California
and nationwide in both public and private sectors. Both RAND
and the LAO have provided estimates of savings following
adoption of technology solutions in health care. RAND
estimates net annual savings following adoption of $34
billion nationally. LAO estimates, based on research in other
states, fee-for-service Medi-Cal savings in California of up
to $300 million annually by increasing coordination and
reducing duplication across a variety of patient service
areas
3) Related Legislation . AB 1011 (Jones), pending on the
Suspense File of this committee, requires the Office of
Health Information Integrity (OHII) within HHSA to report to
the Legislature on health information technology and medical
privacy issues.
Analysis Prepared by : Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081