MX June Newsletter

This month the CalHHS Center for Data Insights and Innovation (CDII) held two stakeholder committee meetings to provide updates and receive input on:

CDII also briefly reviewed plans to implement its Strategy for Digital Identities—beginning with individuals receiving health and social services across multiple state departments—and an eventual DSA Participant Directory to help Signatories exchange data via their chosen technology or intermediaries.

QHIOs are among the most crucial intermediaries that DSA Signatories will have the option of using to comply with and benefit from the Data Exchange Framework. At the first June stakeholder meeting, CDII acknowledged receipt of numerous public comments on the draft QHIO application. Manifest MedEx urged CDII to reconsider its pending decision on whether to stipulate that QHIOs be nonprofit entities willing and able to serve all mandatory types of DSA Signatories, and to adhere to its proposed requirement for all QHIOs to possess the most rigorous industry-standard security certification. Foregoing these criteria—which are essential to the health data utility model that other states have pursued—risks undermining California’s ability to create a digital health data safety net.

Once CDII posts the final application in the coming weeks, Manifest MedEx is fully prepared to respond and seek QHIO status. Meanwhile, we are available to support DSA Signatories who are eligible to apply for the second round of DSA funding that is expected to open shortly.

Stakeholders at the second June meeting held a deeper discussion on draft P&Ps under consideration, including amendments to the Privacy Standards and Security Safeguards, a new policy on Real-Time Exchange, and a Glossary of Defined Terms that will apply across the entire set of P&Ps.