Dive Brief:
- A new study finds that patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) need to create interoperable electronic collaboration plans.
- Researchers conducting the study, which appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, interviewed 28 professionals working within three PCMHs. They found that the providers studied had to develop workarounds to get their job done, as their existing IT systems weren't sufficient.
- Researchers concluded that PCMHs need five types of tools, including patient population monitors, technology notifying clinicians when patients are in transition, tools enabling collaboration among multiple providers, data extraction tools to build reports and improved interoperability.
Dive Insight:
Right now, practices contacted in the study are relying on tried-and-true IT tools, such as Microsoft Access databases and Excel spreadsheets, to monitor panels of patients in their care. However, these tools aren't designed to meet the needs of a PCMH and this is limiting how effectively they can meet their goals.
Ideally, PCMHs would like to obtain tools that visually communicate patient utilization patterns, helping them identify chronically ill patients in need of extra support. They'd also like to see tools which create dynamic electronic care plans that can help clinical teams learn about patients' status and set goals for that patient.
Unfortunately, however, health IT tools that offer population management and dynamic case management options are scarce. While many vendors claim they can provide this functionality, it's not clear that the tools are mature enough to offer a real advantage over the workarounds PCMHs are using now. PCMH-based practices may need to wait years before on-target, robust case management and data-sharing tools worth investing in become available.