title: Promoting access through complementary eHealth technologies: recommendations for VA's Home Telehealth and personal health record programs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many healthcare organizations have embraced eHealth technologies in their efforts to promote patient-centered care, increase access to services, and improve outcomes.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Using the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as a case study, this paper presents two specific eHealth technologies, the Care Coordination Home Telehealth (CCHT) Program and the My HealtheVet (MHV) personal health record (PHR) portal with integrated secure messaging, and articulates a vision of how they might be implemented as part of a patient-centric healthcare model and used in a complementary manner to enhance access to care and to support patient-centered care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Based on our experience and ongoing work with both programs, we offer a series of recommendations for pursuing and ultimately achieving this vision.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  VA's CCHT and MHV programs are examples of an expanding repertoire of eHealth applications available to patients and healthcare teams. VA's new patient-centric healthcare model represents a significant shift in the way that services are delivered and a profound opportunity to incorporate eHealth technologies like the CCHT and MHV programs into clinical practice to increase access to care, and to ensure the responsiveness of such technologies to the preferences and circumstances of patients.
authors: Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care & Spinal Cord Injury Quality Enhancement Research Initiative, Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, 5000 S. 5th Avenue, Hines, IL 60141, USA. timothy.hogan@va.gov
authors: Timothy P
authors: TP
authors: Hogan
authors: Bonnie
authors: B
authors: Wakefield
authors: Kim M
authors: KM
authors: Nazi
authors: Thomas K
authors: TK
authors: Houston
authors: Frances M
authors: FM
authors: Weaver
mesh_terms: D019468:Disease Management; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D010346:Patient Care Management; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D015397:Program Evaluation; D017216:Telemedicine; D014481:United States; D058014:Veterans Health / Q000592:standards*