California awards three contracts for PHR demonstration projects

The California Office of Health Information Integrity (CalOHII), which supports the state’s health information exchange (HIE) initiatives, has awarded three contracts to organizations to participate in an electronic personal health record (PHR) demonstration project.

The pilot will help establish policies and procedures for identifying use cases and conditions for secure exchange that includes PHRs, according to an announcement.

The awards are:

  • $116,887 to Humetrix of Del Mar, Calif. to support their project, which enables providers to send EMRs directly to the iBlueButton mobile app using an HIE mechanism developed in partnership between CalOHII and the National Association for Trusted Exchange (NATE). Humetrix will work directly with the San Diego Regional HIE and the Veterans Health Administration.
  • $145,796 to University of California, San Diego, Department of Emergency Medicine to conduct a pilot testing and demonstrating secure and reliable bidirectional transport of patient data between end users of NATE community Health Information Service Providers and patient-owned PHRs created in Microsoft HealthVault.
  • $102,500 to Santa Cruz HIE to conduct a pilot demonstrating an alternative solution to EHR tethered portals. Providing patients with a patient controlled aggregated PHR record maintained in No More Clipboard, patients can view their PHR from participating providers and facilities in one place, including most of the patient's data from the HIE.

"Nothing currently exists to aid health information service providers/health information organizations or providers in evaluating the suitability of PHRs for inclusion in their delivery of care," said Pamela Lane, deputy secretary, HIE and director of CalOHII.

Around the web

The tirzepatide shortage that first began in 2022 has been resolved. Drug companies distributing compounded versions of the popular drug now have two to three more months to distribute their remaining supply.

The 24 members of the House Task Force on AI—12 reps from each party—have posted a 253-page report detailing their bipartisan vision for encouraging innovation while minimizing risks. 

Merck sent Hansoh Pharma, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, an upfront payment of $112 million to license a new investigational GLP-1 receptor agonist. There could be many more payments to come if certain milestones are met.