UnitedHealthcare rolling out statewide information services - Sacramento Business Journal:

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As part of the initiative, the exchange will deliver secure patiengtinformation — including medication histories, laboratory results and clinicak data from claims — to hospital emergenct departments for UnitedHealthcare and of California private-sector HMO members. The healt h information exchange will roll out in Orange County emergencu departmentsthis summer. Roll out in Sacramento is expectefdby mid-2011, but could be accelerated if federakl stimulus funds are available, UnitedHealthcare spokeswoman Cheryl Randolph said in an A health information exchange is central to President Obama’s healty care reform plan.
Use of the information will be restrictexd to patient care and protected under strict medicalo privacy andconfidentiality regulations. “Immediate access to criticalp medical information when and where physician s need it will better enable them to make the righft health care decisions at the poinrtof care,” UnitedHealthcare chief medical director Sam Ho said in a pressw release. “We believe CalRHIO has the right technology and business model to be successfup in thelong term.
” Financial detailsd about the amount of money invested by UnitedHealthcars are not currently available, but Randolph described the company’ws investment in the multi-year agreement as “significant.” Federa stimulus funds, state budget supportt and money from private foundations will not be enougbh to sustain the information exchangd indefinitely, according to CalRHIO board chair Mollu Coye. “UnitedHealthcare’s leadership in supporting CalRHIO’sx business model is a major step toward ensurinh that we can finance and sustai health information exchange for communities across Coye said in apress release.
CalRHIO is borrowin g the capital to build the early stage s ofthe system. Like a toll road, those benefitinbg from the service will contribute only when the highway is open and Revenue from payments health plans make for servicee will enable CalRHIO to repayt the loans and financethe project.