Introducing the California Integrated Data Exchange (Cal INDEX)

Today, August 5, 2014, the California Integrated Data Exchange (Cal INDEX), a new not-for-profit organization, announced plans to develop a statewide, next-generation health information exchange (HIE) – a comprehensive collection of electronic patient records that will include clinical data from healthcare providers and health insurers. The result will be one of the largest exchanges of its kind, initially providing physicians and nurses with secure, online access to approximately nine million health information records – or nearly one-fourth of the state’s population. Cal INDEX expects to be operational by the end of 2014.

Cal INDEX was created to address California’s fragmented and complex healthcare system. The inability to share valuable health data can result in incomplete information, affecting everyone in the healthcare system – individuals, providers, employers, and producers – and can lead to poor-quality patient care and waste and inefficiency.

Cal INDEX will allow physicians, nurses, and hospitals throughout the state to share patients’ health information, and it will provide them with the tools to help them give their patients the safest, highest-quality care possible. This means greater satisfaction for your clients:

Advantages for consumers

With Cal INDEX, consumers’ health data will be available to doctors, nurses, and hospitals regardless of what health insurance plan they have or which doctor they see. Participating doctors and nurses can more easily and securely share patients’ health information electronically with other providers and hospitals to help them provide the safest, highest-quality care possible.

Advantages for employers

Cal INDEX will help employers champion a healthier workforce by giving providers and hospitals faster and easier online access to the vital patient health information they need to give patients the best care possible.

Blue Shield of California (Blue Shield) and Anthem Blue Cross co-founded Cal INDEX and will provide funding for its first three years of operation. After three years, participating providers and insurers will provide revenue to Cal INDEX through subscription fees.

All Blue Shield employer groups will participate in Cal INDEX when it launches except Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD), Administrative Services Only (ASO), Federal Employee Plans (FEP), and Federal Employees Health Benefits Plans (FEHBP). These plans will be integrated into Cal INDEX over time.

Learn more
For more detailed information about Cal INDEX, please visit www.calindex.org.