Center for Connected Health Policy
February 2010
Note: As of February 2010, the California Center for Connected Health has changed its name to the Center for Connected Health Policy.
Access to affordable, quality health care is a major challenge for Californians in remote, rural, and underserved urban areas. Telehealth, which connects patients and providers with health care services and one another, can overcome barriers of time and distance -- delivering services and education when and where they are needed most.
While progress has been made in advancing the use of telehealth through pilot programs over the last ten years, making these services available to a broad population requires a coordinating entity to link the many players involved and foster a vision for the future.
As part of its mission to help deliver affordable, high quality care to more Californians, CHCF has established the Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP), a strategy and planning body designed to lead and coordinate telehealth adoption throughout California.
Special Report 4/2/09: The recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) offers California a unique opportunity to build on its leadership in broadband and telehealth, also known as telemedicine. As detailed in a report from CCHP, by taking advantage of the federal stimulus funding infrastructure, the state is well positioned to make significant improvements in the health of Californians, while providing tools that can slow the rate of growth in health care costs. Read the full report, Connecting California: The Impact of the Stimulus Package on Telehealth and Broadband Expansion (PDF download). |
CCHP is led by Sandra Shewry, former director of the California Department of Health Care Services. CCHP's leadership team also includes Thomas S. Nesbitt, M.D., M.P.H., executive associate dean of the University of California Davis School of Medicine and a professor in the department of family and community medicine. The University of California (UC) system has played a key role in advancing telehealth and will work closely with CCHP going forward.
The Center for Connected Health Policy will:
- Promote a shared vision for telehealth adoption and integration in the health care delivery system;
- Work to ensure that California is a national model of telehealth integration;
- Identify and promote practice patterns, policies, regulations, and statutory changes that will maximize the ability of telehealth to improve health outcomes and care delivery; and
- Manage a specialty care pilot project for UC campuses and community-based clinics to develop a sustainable model for telehealth services.
The Foundation has provided $5.5 million to support CCHP and launch a safety net specialty access project to build on momentum created by FCC funds for broadband connectivity and Prop 1D funds earmarked for UC medical campuses' work with community health care partners. Additional funding support is expected from other public and private organizations around the state.
CCHP will initially be operated as a program of the Oakland-based Public Health Institute (PHI) until it is incorporated as an independent California nonprofit and obtains status from the IRS as a charitable 501(c)(3) organization.
A related eight-minute video below demonstrates how clinics in rural and urban locations are using telemedicine; it features interviews with clinic directors, telemedicine coordinators, physicians, and others.