title: Defining and supporting the diverse information needs of community-based care using the web and hand-held devices.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Lobach
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Low
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Arbanas
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Rabold
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Tatum
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Epstein
mesh_terms: 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