scholarly journals Promises and Pitfalls of Health Information Technology for Home- and Community-Based Services

2020 ◽  
pp. 073346482094136
Author(s):  
Sangeeta C. Ahluwalia ◽  
Esther Friedman ◽  
Daniel Siconolfi ◽  
Debra Saliba ◽  
Jessica Phillips ◽  
...  

Background: Health information technology (HIT) use in home- and community-based services (HCBS) has been hindered by inadequate resources and incentives to support modernization. We sought to understand the ways the Medicaid Balancing Incentive Program (BIP) facilitated increased use of HIT to increase access to HCBS. Method: Qualitative analysis of interviews with 30 Medicaid administrators, service agency providers, and consumer advocates. Results: Although stakeholders perceived several benefits to greater HIT use, they highlighted critical challenges to effective adoption within the long-term services and supports (LTSS) system, including lack of extant expertise/knowledge about HIT, the limited reach of HIT among rural and disabled beneficiaries, burdensome procurement processes, and the ongoing resources required to maintain up-to-date HIT solutions. Conclusion: The structural reforms required by BIP gave states an opportunity to modernize their HCBS systems through use of HIT. However, barriers to HIT adoption persist, underscoring the need for continued support as part of future rebalancing efforts.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S156-S156
Author(s):  
Lisa Beauregard ◽  
Edward A Miller

Abstract The Balancing Incentive Program (BIP) was an optional Medicaid program within the Affordable Care Act. States spending less than 50% of Medicaid long-term services and supports on home and community-based services (HCBS) were eligible for the program and could participate from 2011 to 2015. Participating states received an enhanced federal match in exchange for rebalancing LTSS spending and adopting structural changes to their long-term services and supports system. The purpose of this study is to understand the barriers and facilitators to implementing the BIP in two states. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in HCBS policy nationally and in Maryland and Texas, including government bureaucrats, consumer advocates, and provider representatives. Findings indicate that factors that facilitated Maryland and Texas’ implementation of the BIP were regular communication with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and their consultants, Mission Analytics Group, merging the BIP with existing HCBS programs, and the substantial amount of funding associated with the program. On the other hand, the short duration of the BIP presented a challenge for states because they needed to enact multiple changes within a limited period of time. In addition, state procurement and contracting processes impeded the speed with which BIP requirements could be met. Key stakeholders, including consumer advocacy and provider organizations, often felt as though their state implemented the BIP with minimal input from interested groups. The findings indicate that the structure of the Balancing Incentive Program as well as internal state factors influenced the program’s implementation.


2020 ◽  
pp. 073346482092451
Author(s):  
Esther M. Friedman ◽  
Regina A. Shih ◽  
Sangeeta C. Ahluwalia ◽  
Virginia I. Kotzias ◽  
Jessica L. Phillips ◽  
...  

Older adults in need of assistance often prefer to remain at home rather than receive care in an institution. To meet these preferences, Medicaid invited states to apply for the Balancing Incentive Program (BIP), a program intended to “rebalance” Medicaid-financed long-term services and supports to Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS). However, only about half of eligible states applied. We interviewed Medicaid administrators to explore why some states applied for BIP whereas others did not. Supportive state leadership and the presence of other programs supporting community-based care were positively related to BIP application. Opposing policy priorities and programs competing for similar resources were negatively related to BIP application. Because states most likely to apply already had policy goals and programs supporting HCBS, BIP may inadvertently widen disparities across states, pushing those on the margins ahead and leaving the ones that are worst off in HCBS support to fall even further behind.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Clemens Scott Kruse ◽  
Michael Mileski ◽  
Rohan Syal ◽  
Lauren MacNeil ◽  
Edward Chabarria ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of health information technology (HIT) as an adjunct to increase safety and quality in healthcare applications is well known. There is a relationship between the use of HIT and safer-prescribing practices in long-term care. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this systematic review is to determine an association between the use of HIT and the improvement of prescription administration in long-term care facilities. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted using the MEDLINE and CINAHL databases. With the use of certain key terms, 66 articles were obtained. Each article was then reviewed by two researchers to determine if the study was germane to the research objective. If both reviewers agreed with using the article, it became a source for our review. The review was conducted and structured based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. RESULTS: The researchers identified 14 articles to include in a group for analysis from North America, Europe, and Australia. Electronic health records and electronic medication administration records were the two most common forms of technological interventions (6 of 14, 43%). Reduced risk, decreased error, decreased missed dosage, improved documentation, improved clinical process, and stronger clinical focus comprised 92% of the observations. CONCLUSIONS: HIT has shown beneficial effects for many healthcare organizations. Long-term care facilities that implemented health information technologies, have shown reductions in adverse drug events caused by medication errors overall reduced risk to the organization. The implementation of new technologies did not increase the time nurses spent on medication rounds.


2015 ◽  
pp. 150527102958001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Wysocki ◽  
Mary Butler ◽  
Robert L. Kane ◽  
Rosalie A. Kane ◽  
Tetyana Shippee ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zari Dehnavi ◽  
Haleh Ayatollahi ◽  
Morteza Hemmet ◽  
Rowshanak Abbasi

Background: Health information technology helps patients to take better care of themselves and improves health status of patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes. Objective: This study aimed to identify factors influencing the use of health information technology in diabetes management. Methods: This was a review study conducted in 2019. To obtain the related articles, databases including Scopus, Web of Science, Proquest and PubMed were searched and the time frame was between 2010 and 2018. Initially, 1159 articles were retrieved and after screening 28 articles were selected to be included in the study. Results: Factors influencing the use of health information technology in diabetes management could be divided into the motivational and inhibitory factors and each of them could be categorized into five groups of organizational, technical, economic, individual and ethical/legal factors. The motivational factors included training, system ease of use, economic support, having computer literacy, and maintaining privacy and confidentiality. The inhibitory factors included a lack of long-term planning, technical problems, inadequate financial resources, old age, and concerns over confidentiality issues. Conclusion: Identifying motivational and inhibitory factors can help to make better use of technology for diabetes management. This approach, in turn, can improve the acceptability of the technology and saves cost, reduces long-term complications of diabetes, and improves quality of life in diabetic patients.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam Peyton ◽  
Jaspreet Bindra ◽  
Aladdin Baarah ◽  
Austin Chamney ◽  
Craig Kuziemsky

Health information technology (HIT) offers great potential for supporting healthcare delivery, particularly collaborative care delivery that is provided across multiple settings and providers. To date much of HIT design has focused on digitizing data or processes on a departmental or healthcare provider basis. However, this bounded approach has not scaled well for supporting community based care across disparate providers or settings because of the lack of boundaries (e.g. disprate data and processes) that exist in community based care. Cloud computing approaches that leverage mobile form applications for developing integrated HIT solutions have the potential to support collaborative healthcare delivery in the community. However, to date there is a shortage of methods that describe how to develop integrated cloud computing solutions to support community based care delivery. In particular there is a need for methods that identify how to incorporate boundaries into cloud computing systems design. This paper uses a three year case study of the design of the Palliative Care Information System (PAL-IS) to provide system design insight on cloud computing approaches that leverage mobile forms applications to support community care management.


2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 244-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carli Friedman

Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) 1915(c) waivers are one of the largest providers of long-term services and supports for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). HCBS waivers also play a prominent role in providing day habilitation services for people with IDD. The purpose of this study was to examine how HCBS waivers allocate day habilitation services for people with IDD. HCBS waivers providing day habilitation services for people with IDD were analyzed to determine service utilization and projected expenditures. In fiscal year 2014, HCBS waivers projected US$5.62 billion of funding for day habilitation services; however, there was wide variance across services in terms of projected total spending, spending per participant, and reimbursement rates.


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