New Tools for Practice Management
The federal government and leadership in the private sector have recognized the
economic impact of increasing health care costs and the well-documented need to
improve clinical care processes, health care quality, and patient safety. Health
information technology (HIT) is seen as one of the solutions to transform health
care services. This recognition has resulted in government-funded initiatives for
widespread adoption of HIT in the United States.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the
lead Federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services charged
with improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care
for all Americans, has launched one such initiative, according to Ms. Carol Cain,
an HIT Portfolio Manager at AHRQ. After many projects to evaluate use and obstacles
in electronic health records (EHR) adoption, AHRQ has created a tool—the Evaluation Toolkit—to
help practice administers implement HIT and evaluate its impact on patient care.
HIT Promise & Reality
“The
Decade of Health Information Technology: Delivering Consumer-centric and Information-Rich
Health Care”—a press release by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS)—emphasizes HIT’s potential to transform
the delivery of health care services. In short, the AHRQ National Resource Center
reports, “HIT adoption is the right thing to do.”
Yet, a 2005 study of more than 3,300 medical group practices by the Medical Group
Management Association and the University of Minnesota reported that just 14.1
percent of all US medical group practices use EHR, which are critical components
of HIT systems (Gans
et al. Health Affairs.
2005;24:1323-1333).
With so many options and so much information about HIT planning and evaluation,
the process can be confusing. Not to mention, standards and regulation are still
shifting and evolving. In this climate, the promise and reality of HIT present
difficult challenges for any health system attempting to develop a meaningful HIT
program.
[back to top]
AHRQ’s New HIT National Resource Center
In February 2006, AHRQ launched the National
Resource Center for Health Information Technology, a major initiative to
help cultivate and facilitate HIT adoption. The center’s Web site—www.healthit.ahrq.gov—presents
real-world HIT adoption issues and conveys early
lessons learned from more than 100 AHRQ-funded HIT research projects.
About half of these projects were carried out in rural and/or
small practices to capture diverse experiences. What lessons have been learned
while developing these tools? “One early lesson,” says Cain, “is
that HIT implementation consists of one part technology and two parts organizational
and culture change.”
Tools Available at the AHRQ’s National Resource
Center for HIT
- Emerging lessons from the field.
- A knowledge library with links to more than 5,000
HIT information resources.
- An evaluation toolkit to help those implementing
HIT projects.
- A summary of key topics.
- Other resources pointing to current HIT activities,
funding opportunities, and other information.
Source: AHRQ. AHRQ Launches New "Learning
Resources" To
Help Providers Adopt Health IT. Press Release. February 13, 2006. (www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2006/learnhitpr.htm).
Improving quality and patient safety is at the forefront of efforts to significantly
research and share information about HIT effectiveness, according to Cain. Users
of the AHRQ resources can choose from a library of HIT issues, including patient
safety, organizational change strategies, and laws and standards, and then drill
down to more than 5,000 HIT tools reviewed and summarized by experts in the field.
A “highlight” of AHRQ’s information suite
is the Evaluation
Toolkit (version 3), one of the first products resulting from the HIT research
project collaboration. “The toolkit,” emphasizes Cain, “represents
day-to-day experience and practical advice for promoting HIT adoption and fostering
meaningful studies on the effectiveness and impact of HIT on the quality of patient
care.”
To learn more about the history of this tool, read
an AHRQ press release describing the intent and future of AHRQ’s HIT
focus. To visit the AHRQ National Resource Center for HIT, click
here.
—Jo Ann Kairys, MPH, contributing
editor
[back to top]