Report: Health IT improves long-term care

Few healthcare administrators would argue that healthcare IT is a central part of their operations. But if they start to wonder whether IT actually helps improve care, it's nice to have research like this in your hip pocket. According to a new report from a national consulting firm, HIT can meaningfully boost the quality of long-term care, most notably by improving the quality of clinical data collection and connecting caregivers and patients.

The report, prepared by consulting firm BearingPoint on behalf of the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care, noted that HIT adoption in this sector is still behind other industry segments, in part due to the financial issues the industry faces. However, when it does begin larger-scale adoption, the effect could ripple out across the rest of the healthcare sector, given the size of the long-term care market, the report's authors said.

To get more information from the report:
- read this Healthcare IT News article

Related Articles:
NY grants include incentives promoting HIT adoption in long-term care. Article
CMS research tests out e-prescribing in long-term care settings. Article