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Reports & Initiatives

California Center for Connected Health

Opened January 2, 2009

December 2008

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 California Center for Connected Health (CCCH), 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 CCCH, 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.

CCCH is led by Sandra Shewry, former director of the California Department of Health Care Services. CCCH'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 CCCH going forward.

The California Center for Connected Health 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 CCCH 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.

CCCH opened on January 2, 2009. Those wishing to make an appointment to talk with CCCH staff should contact info@connectedhealthca.org, call 916.488.8607, or send a letter to the attention of Sandra Shewry, California Center for Connected Health, 3430 American River Drive, Suite 100, Sacramento, CA 95864.

CCCH 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.

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Document Downloads

Frequently Asked Questions about the California Center for Connected Health (35K)

Leadership of the California Center for Connected Health (31K)

Related CHCF Pages

Achieving the Promise of Telehealth in California by Thomas Nesbitt

Press Release 12/15/08

CHCF Telehealth Publications

External Links

California Center for Connected Health

California Telehealth Network (CTN)

Center for Health and Technology at UC Davis Health System

University of California: Proposition 1D Education Bond

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