New Calif. Public Health Agency Going High Tech

California recently split its Department of Health Services so that it can separate its two primary missions: managing the state's Medicaid program called Medi-Cal and protecting public health.

State legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supported the split, which health advocates argued was needed to pull public health programs out from under the Medi-Cal program, which had dominated government managers' time and resources.

The new Department of Public Health will employ high-tech tools to track and test for bioterrorism; avian flu; West Nile virus; tuberculosis; obesity; toxins in food, water and air; birth defects; and the aging of the population, according to insidebayarea.com. The public health department also plans to invest heavily in electronic health records and to upgrade health databases.

California typically leads the nation in setting government strategies and policies. Could the federal government be far behind in splitting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services organizations?