The Veteran-Initiated Electronic Care Coordination: A Multisite Initiative to Promote and Evaluate Consumer-Mediated Health Information Exchange.

INTRODUCTION: Information continuity is critical to person-centered care when patients receive care from multiple healthcare systems. Patients can access their electronic health record data through patient portals to facilitate information exchange. This pilot was developed to improve care continuity for rural Veterans by (1) promoting the use of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) patient portal to share health information with non-VA providers, and (2) evaluating the impact of health information sharing at a community appointment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Veterans from nine VA healthcare systems were trained to access and share their VA Continuity of Care Document (CCD) with their non-VA providers. Patients and non-VA providers completed surveys on their experiences. RESULTS: Participants (n = 620) were primarily older, white, and Vietnam era Veterans. After training, 78% reported the CCD would help them be more involved in their healthcare and 86% planned to share it regularly with non-VA providers. Veterans (n = 256) then attended 277 community appointments. Provider responses from these appointments (n = 133) indicated they were confident in the accuracy of the information (97%) and wanted to continue to receive the CCD (96%). Ninety percent of providers reported the CCD improved their ability to have an accurate medication list and helped them make medication treatment decisions. Fifty percent reported they did not order a laboratory test or another procedure because of information available in the CCD. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot demonstrates feasibility and value of patient access to a CCD to facilitate information sharing between VA and non-VA providers. Outreach and targeted education are needed to promote consumer-mediated health information exchange.

Progress and challenges: implementation and use of health information technology among critical-access hospitals.

Despite major national investments to support the adoption of health information technology (IT), concerns persist that barriers are inhibiting that adoption and the use of advanced health IT capabilities in rural areas in particular. Using a survey of Medicare-certified critical-access hospitals, we examined electronic health record (EHR) adoption, key EHR functionalities, telehealth, and teleradiology, as well as challenges to EHR adoption. In 2013, 89 percent of critical-access hospitals had implemented a full or partial EHR. Adoption of key EHR capabilities varied. Critical-access hospitals that had certain types of technical assistance and resources available to support health IT were more likely to have adopted health IT capabilities and less likely to report significant challenges to EHR implementation and use, compared to other hospitals in the survey. It is important to ensure that the necessary resources and support are available to critical-access hospitals, especially those that operate independently, to assist them in adopting health IT and becoming able to electronically link to the broader health care system.

Engaging providers in underserved areas to adopt electronic health records.

OBJECTIVES: To assess Regional Extension Centers' (RECs') health IT outreach and provider engagement efforts among primary care providers (PCPs) based in underserved areas. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective assessment of REC program enrollment. METHODS: We computed REC program enrollment rates among PCPs for the entire United States and across census regions and compared enrollment in underserved areas relative to non-underserved areas. Measures of area-level underserved status included rural and health professional shortage area (HPSA) designations. RESULTS: Of the estimated 302,689 ambulatory PCPs practicing in the United States, 120,783 (39.9%) were enrolled in an REC. REC enrollment rates among PCPs were higher in large rural (47.3%) and small rural (56.1%) areas relative to urban (37.9%) areas. REC enrollment rates among PCPs were also higher for single-county HPSAs (51.9%) relative to non-HPSAs (40.0%), geographic HPSAs (41.7%), and population group HPSAs (38.6%). The Northeast region exhibited the highest REC enrollment rates overall and across categories of underserved status relative to all other census regions. CONCLUSIONS: The REC program serves as a unique opportunity to address the health information technology needs of PCPs working in underserved areas. Over the course of 2 years, the program has exceeded its goal of enrolling 100,000 priority primary care providers. Provider engagement is the first step in a 3-step process aimed at getting providers to adopt and become meaningful users of electronic health records. Significant work remains for the RECs to meet these objectives, and future research should evaluate the success of the REC program in meeting subsequent milestones.