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CONTACT:
Bridget Kelly
Director, Communications
714-246-8765
bkelly@caloptima.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CALOPTIMA’S COREC PROGRAM ACHIEVES 100 PERCENT GOAL
TO ASSIST DOCTORS WITH THE USE OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD SYSTEMS
Helps reduce health care disparities for low-income patients
ORANGE, Calif. (May 31, 2016) —The CalOptima Regional Extension Center (COREC) achieved its goal to assist 1,000 local doctors implement and meaningfully use certified electronic health records (CEHR) with their patients. The milestone to attain 100 percent of COREC’s participating primary care providers meaningfully using CEHR is important, since it helps to reduce health care disparities and improve patient care for CalOptima’s Medi-Cal members that are low income, homeless and the working poor in Orange County. Additionally, it also fulfilled CalOptima’s commitment to both our community and the nationwide program led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
“Through CalOptima’s programs like this, we are fortunate to be able to offer technical assistance and resources to providers supporting Medi-Cal members within Orange County,” said CalOptima Chief Information Officer Len Rosignoli. “We assist our provider partners with organizational considerations, change management and technical expertise to enable them to advance their care and practices to support federal guidelines.”
Doctors in small practices or in underserved communities may not have the resources to transition their practice from paper-based charts and file cabinets to a digital health care infrastructure using CEHR. With CEHRs, doctors have quick access to patient records from inpatient and remote locations for more coordinated, efficient care. Patients benefit through patient portals and a reduced need to fill out duplicate forms at each visit.
With this milestone, CalOptima has sunsetted COREC and transitioned CEHR initiatives into the CalOptima TechAssist Program (COTAP). COTAP was awarded a three-year, $4.3 million grant from the California Department of Health Care Services to assist eligible professionals with more extensive CEHR, and to ensure they are able to meet upcoming stages of meaningful use. COTAP services have expanded to include eligible Orange County specialty care providers, nurse practitioners and physician assistants to get free advice from subject matter experts to help them meet the next phase of meaningful use. For more details, visit www.caloptima.org/techassist or email techassist@caloptima.org.
About CalOptima
A county organized health system, CalOptima provides publicly funded health care coverage for low-income children, adults, seniors and people with disabilities in Orange County, Calif. CalOptima’s mission is to provide members with access to quality health care services delivered in a cost-effective and compassionate manner. In total, CalOptima serves more than 780,000 members with a network of more than 7,000 primary care doctors and specialists, as well as 30 hospitals.
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