title: A needs assessment of health information technology for improving care coordination in three leading patient-centered medical homes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated ways that patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) are currently using health information technology (IT) for care coordination and what types of health IT are needed to improve care coordination.
  
  
  METHODS
  A multi-disciplinary team of researchers conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with 28 participants from 3 PCMHs in the United States. Participants included administrators and clinicians from PCMHs, electronic health record (EHR) and health information exchange (HIE) representatives, and policy makers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants identified multiple barriers to care coordination using current health IT tools. We identified five areas in which health IT can improve care coordination in PCMHs: 1) monitoring patient populations, 2) notifying clinicians and other staff when specific patients move across care settings, 3) collaborating around patients, 4) reporting activities, and 5) interoperability. To accomplish these tasks, many participants described using homegrown care coordination systems separate from EHRs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The participants in this study have resources, experience, and expertise with using health IT for care coordination, yet they still identified multiple areas for improvement. We hypothesize that focusing health IT development in the five areas we identified can enable more effective care coordination. Key findings from this work are that homegrown systems apart from EHRs are currently used to support care coordination and, also, that reporting tools are key components of care coordination.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  New health IT that enables monitoring, notifying, collaborating, reporting, and interoperability would enhance care coordination within PCMHs beyond what current health IT enables.
authors: Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medical College, NY, NY Center for Healthcare Informatics and Policy, Weill Cornell Medical College, NY, NY Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative (HITEC), NY, NY jor2032@med.cornell.edu.
authors: Joshua E
authors: JE
authors: Richardson
authors: Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medical College, NY, NY Center for Healthcare Informatics and Policy, Weill Cornell Medical College, NY, NY Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative (HITEC), NY, NY.
authors: Joshua R
authors: JR
authors: Vest
authors: Department of Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medical College, NY, NY.
authors: Cori M
authors: CM
authors: Green
authors: Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medical College, NY, NY Center for Healthcare Informatics and Policy, Weill Cornell Medical College, NY, NY Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative (HITEC), NY, NY.
authors: Lisa M
authors: LM
authors: Kern
authors: Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medical College, NY, NY Center for Healthcare Informatics and Policy, Weill Cornell Medical College, NY, NY Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative (HITEC), NY, NY.
authors: Rainu
authors: R
authors: Kaushal
mesh_terms: D057286:Electronic Health Records; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D066275:Health Information Exchange; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008490:Medical Informatics; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010346:Patient Care Management; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States
keywords: care coordination; electronic health records; health information technology policy; informatics research