Federal and state funding via the California Health Information Exchange Onboarding Program (Cal-HOP) to help practices onboard to their regional Health Information Exchange/Organization (HIE/HIO) expires in September 2021. The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is committed to providing up to $50 million in total funds to HIOs to support data exchange connections from an HIO to eligible providers and hospitals, including admission, discharge, and transfer messages (ADT) and queries of the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES). Providers and hospital organizations can find a list of participating HIOs on the DHCS website. For practices participating in pay-for-performance or who have quality reporting needs, this is critical infrastructure to make sure you receive ER/hospital notifications for the right patients and for routine access to labs/studies and notes from other systems. For more information about program requirements, or how providers can enroll with a participating HIO, providers are encouraged to visit the DHCS website and submit questions directly to HIEOnboard@dhcs.ca.gov or a participating HIO providing services to their region. In addition, on April 20, DHCS will host the 2021 California HIE Onboarding and Interoperability Summit. The summit will assist stakeholders in understanding how they and their organizations fit into the larger Interoperability and HIE initiatives, including interactions and data exchange with state departments.
