FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 27, 2021

Contact: Deborah Camiel | deborah@50p1.com | 818-299-3656

Connecting for Better Health Coalition Applauds California’s First Step Towards a 21st Century Health Data Exchange

AB 133: Data Sharing by 2024

SACRAMENTO, CA — Today, Governor Gavin Newsom paved the way towards a statewide health information exchange network that will give all Californians and their healthcare providers access to crucial and life-saving data in real time. AB 133 calls for providers and health plans to share data with each other by 2024 and for the state to create a framework for that exchange of information.

Access to electronic medical records is a prerequisite for 21st-century healthcare, and in embracing wider health data sharing California joins the ranks of future-forward states like Arizona, New York, and North Carolina. The benefits to Californians from a system in which their personal health data travels with them throughout the state will result in higher quality care, reduced health inequities, lower costs and improved public health. Particularly of note as we battle the Covid pandemic are the resources that wider data sharing will provide for coordinating and amplifying responses to future public health crises.

We applaud Governor Gavin Newsom as he signs this bill into law and we recognize the visionary work of Assemblymember Jim Wood for leading the charge on creating this important healthcare infrastructure. We also thank the many supporters in the Legislature for their hard work in shaping this policy over the past months. We look forward to continued collaboration with our partner organizations as we advocate to put patients—people—at the center of policy development.

The Connecting for Better Health Coalition is a diverse array of healthcare advocates and industry leaders across California.

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