Chicago, January 5 -- A coalition of 14 stakeholder groups released a joint roadmap today to focus private and public sector efforts toward promoting and implementing electronic health records (EHRs) and other information technologies in long-term care (LTC) settings. A significant portion of national health expenditures are devoted to the care of individuals over 65 years old; however, current health IT agendas and strategies are almost exclusively focused on acute and ambulatory care settings.

"While it's encouraging that our nation is moving toward a system of interoperable health information, we must make certain that the needs of the elderly and most vulnerable Americans are fully addressed and integrated," said Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of the American Health Care Association (AHCA). "The current health record system within LTC is a patchwork at best, and it's absolutely essential that we prepare for the impending wave of baby boomers by investing significantly in infrastructure and coordination. Collaborating to create an LTC-friendly roadmap for health IT will allow us to ultimately sustain quality improvements, increase efficiencies, save taxpayer dollars and save lives," Yarwood added.

The roadmap is the result of the first-ever LTC Health IT Summit, held this past August, that brought together more than 125 LTC health IT thought leaders representing more than 100 organizations to build consensus on the top priorities and recommendations for the next 12 to 24 months. Priorities include:
* Formalizing a cross-organizational collaborative to mobilize the LTC community on health IT and EHR issues.
* Advocating for and identifying funding mechanisms/incentives, including IT use in pay for performance programs.
* Advocating for and adopting data content and messaging standards that support a unified language and promote interoperability across care settings.
* Promoting the design, development, and implementation of a standardized patient transfer/summary of care document to enhance the coordination of care across settings. Target health status, ability, and functioning.

While specific action plans to engage consumers in the process of adopting the EHR in aging services have not been identified, the summit's presentations and discussions recognized a mandate for consumer engagement in all aspects of healthcare delivery. "Quality in healthcare is ultimately a person-centric construct. Health IT needs to support improved communications between patients, families and caregivers," said Peter Kress, commissioner of the Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) and Vice President and Chief Information Officer of ACTS Retirement-Life Communities, Inc. "The summit's derived action steps must be pursued with a person-centric awareness in mind."

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