California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has high hopes for Consumer Owned and Operated Plans (CO-OPs), a new form of health insurance that will be allowed in the state starting Jan. 1.
The not-for-profit, member-governed plans are designed for individuals and small groups, including small businesses.
California is making progress in its transition to electronic health records, state officials said Thursday in an update on the state’s eHealth Initiative.
“Electronic health records are really changing the quality of care individuals are receiving,” said Linette Scott, chief medical information officer for the Department of Health Care Services.
So far, California has allocated $775 million in federal funds to hospitals, doctors and other health care providers to support health information exchange technology, Scott said in a conference call. “It demonstrates a change in the way health care is delivered,” she said.
California has yet to resolve several key questions about how insurers will provide pediatric dental and vision benefits under the federal Affordable Care Act, according to a new study from the California Health Benefits Review Program.
Recent state legislation helps define essential health benefits for children’s dental and vision care, “but does not clarify which ages are ‘pediatric,’ and thus eligible to use these benefits,” according to the study from CHBRP, a University of California initiative that analyzes public health issues for the state Legislature.
It’s also unclear how benefits will be handled when families purchase separate health coverage and stand-alone dental coverage, the report concludes. “These questions will need to be addressed at some point in the future in order to assist both the regulators and the carriers providing for this EHB to comply with ACA requirements,” it said.