Marin County health care coalition changes status as part of advocacy efforts

Because we are so far from the days of the family doctor taking care of all of our ailments, it’s important that health care data can be shared from one provider to the next.

After all, according to HealthDay, in 2019 about one-third of Medicare recipients saw at least five doctors a year.

Beginning Jan. 31, the ability of health care providers to have a patient’s information at their fingertips is supposed to be easier in California.

In the fall of 2021, the state created the Center for Data Insights and Innovation, which falls under the California Health & Human Services Agency.

“The data exchange framework is not a new technology or centralized data repository; instead, it’s an agreement across health and human services systems and providers to share information safely,” the new department’s website says. “That means every health care provider can access the information they need to treat you quickly and safely; health care, behavioral health and social services agencies can connect to each other to deliver what Californians need to be healthy; and our public health system can better assess how to address the needs of all communities.”

This legislation is in large part why the Larkspur-based coalition Connecting for Better Health (C4BH) changed its status to nonprofit in November. The change came after three years of operating as a for-profit enterprise advocating for health and social data sharing.

Executive Director Timi Leslie said the nonprofit status allows the organization to be more involved in helping entities meet the letter of the law, allow C4BH to seek grants, as well as come out from under the umbrella of BluePath Health.

BluePath, a health consulting firm that Leslie founded, celebrated 10 years in business last year.

While Leslie will remain the leader of C4BH, a board of directors will govern it. One of her goals is to bring accountability to the law.

“My biggest fear is that the deadline is going to come and go and then we are no better off than the status quo,” Leslie told the Journal. “We are also keenly focused to make sure funding is available for organizations to build out. A lot of data is still shared by faxing and PDFs, so we have a lot of work to do.”

She said the sharing of data helps those discharged from a hospital who then go see their primary care provider or specialists. It should curtail duplicate testing. Moving within the state should mean files are digitally available wherever the person establishes care.

It may even speed up care because providers will know what has taken place in the past without the patient having to relay the details.

Those affected include general acute care hospitals, physician organizations and medical groups, skilled nursing facilities, clinical labs, acute psychiatric hospitals, most health care service plans and disability insurers, and many Medi-Cal managed plans.

A deadline of Jan. 31, 2026 has been set for sharing data for practices with less than 25 doctors, rehabilitation hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, critical access hospitals, rural general acute care hospitals with less than 100 acute care beds, state-run acute psychiatric hospitals, and nonprofits clinic with less than 10 health care providers.