Defining and supporting the diverse information needs of community-based care using the web and hand-held devices.
Community-based healthcare focused on maintaining wellness is becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States in an effort to eliminate healthcare disparities and reduce healthcare costs. These community-oriented initiatives, however, often require partnerships that cross traditional boundaries. As a result, these initiatives often lack a common information infrastructure to support the care delivery process. We have created and implemented a Web-based information and communication system to support the needs of a community-based healthcare project for Medicaid beneficiaries in Durham County, North Carolina. Through this project, we have identified the relevant information requirements and stakeholders for community-based care. In addition, we have explored the use of hand-held devices for accessing and collecting clinical information in the field. The overall goal of this project is to lower the costs and improve the quality of community-based healthcare through improved handling of information.
Lobach
D F
DF
Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
Low
R
R
Arbanas
J A
JA
Rabold
J S
JS
Tatum
J L
JL
Epstein
S D
SD
D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016494:Computer Security; D007255:Information Services; D007256:Information Systems / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000458:organization & administration; D020407:Internet; D008838:Microcomputers; D009657:North Carolina