L.A. Care Invests $1.5 Million To Implement Innovative eConsult System For L.A. County Safety Net Providers

LOS ANGELES – L.A. Care Health Plan, the nation’s largest public health plan, announced today an investment of $1.5 million to implement an innovative eConsult system, an electronic physician-to-specialist consultation and referral system, at approximately 47 L.A. County safety net sites, including Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) health care facilities.  Once the eConsult system has been fully implemented, nearly 1 in 4 clinic sites in L.A. County will be using the system.  L.A. Care’s long-term goal is to help all L.A. County safety net providers implement and use the eConsult system.  Program partners on the eConsult effort also include Health Care LA IPA.

In preparation for the influx of new patients due to health care reform and California’s 1115 Medicaid Waiver, L.A. Care is committed to helping safety net providers build capacity and improve efficiency and access to care,” said Dr. Elaine Batchlor, Chief Medical Officer at L.A. Care Health Plan. “The eConsult system is one of the many industry-leading projects that L.A. Care has funded and implemented to improve quality of care for our most vulnerable populations.”

L.A. Care’s funds will develop an eConsult system that providers will access through a secure Web portal and provide training and technical assistance to the clinics’ staff to help them use the system effectively.  Through this innovative system, primary care and specialty physicians will be able to communicate, share clinical information and consult electronically to better coordinate patient care.  The system will also process referral requests and authorizations if a face-to-face, patient-to-specialist visit is required, reducing the specialty referral and appointment process to a few days and increasing the speed with which patient’s care is delivered.
 
“The County is excited to work with L.A. Care to support innovative efforts to increase timely access to specialty consultations in the safety net care setting,” says Dr. Alexander Li, Chief Executive Officer at L.A. County Department of Health Services Ambulatory Care Network.

L.A. Care is helping implement this system after completing a successful eConsult pilot, which will serve as a model for a wider L.A. County safety net provider eConsult adoption.  In 2009, L.A. Care launched an eConsult pilot with 40 solo and small health care practices within L.A. Care’s contracted provider network.  An evaluation of the program found that the eConsult system, which generated over 1,000 electronic consultations, improved information sharing and dialogue among these early adopters.  It also shortened the time to resolve clinical issues and reduced the need for face-to-face specialist visits, with visits declining by 25 percent to 48 percent, depending upon the specialty.

Dr. Daniel Behroozan, Director at the Dermatology Institute of Southern California and eConsult pilot participant, experienced the benefits of eConsult: "eConsults enabled immediate access to specialty care for patients who would otherwise have had limited access and would have had to wait weeks to be seen.  This allows for quicker diagnosis, leading to better clinical results."

As a leader in Health I.T., L.A. Care’s goal is to ensure that L.A. County safety net providers have access the same health information technology tools and training as private providers.  To date, L.A. Care has invested more than $7.6 million in grants, provider incentives, partnerships and learning collaboratives to promote the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), disease and immunization registries, e-prescribing, and web-based consulting by L.A. County health care providers.  In early 2010, through a $16.4 million federal grant, L.A. Care established the Health Information Technology Extension Center for Los Angeles (HITEC-LA), the exclusive Regional Extension Center (REC) for L.A. County.  HITEC-LA helps doctors and primary care providers select the right certified EHRs for their practices, and guide them through the entire implementation process to achieve meaningful use.