Dive Brief:
- A new case study by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives suggests that the use of tablet computers is helpful in cutting costs and improving care coordination.
- Two years ago, Sutter Care at Home acquired 7-inch tablets with 4G mobile broadband access. These were put in the hands of 1,300 care providers, who treat more than 100,000 patients, CHIME reports.
- The home care agency has seen several benefits from its investment in tablets, including access to real-time data on patient hospitalizations, as well as office visits and lab results, all drawn from the hospital's Epic EMR.
Dive Insight:
With care documentation going all-digital, it's now possible to give traveling caregivers access to more information than ever before. There are many advantages to giving mobile caregivers access to live clinical data, as it helps them better assess and treat their community-based patients. And the tablets purchased by Sutter are not only are they helping with care, they are also speeding up the process, according to iHealthBeat. Given these results, it would not be surprising if more providers go down this road.