Incorporation of Information Technology into Assisted Health Care: An Empirical Study

Michelle Delmonico and Bruce White

IS/IT pervades almost everything In healthcare, IT does ‘everything’ from

electronic health records to computer guided surgery.

This paper investigates technology adoption in assisted living healthcare facilities.

Overview

The main author is Michelle (Merrill) Delmonico. At the time this was written, Michelle was an MBA student at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. Michelle has worked in healthcare.

The secondary author is Bruce White, Professor of Information Systems Management at Quinnipiac University. Michelle started this study as an independent study at Quinnipiac

The authors

The authors developed a questionnaire that was sent to over 100 assisted living facilities in Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

The questionnaire was distributed by paper / standard mail

The study

We found early on that assisted living facilities might be in the ‘backwater’ of IT adoption and use. Where a similar survey of acute care hospitals was distributed using ‘SurveyMonkey’, we found few assisted living facilities with websites or with easily findable e-mail addresses.

Thus, the paper surveys were distributed addressed to ‘administrator’

The study continued

The questionnaire had 15 questions. Some questions:

Does your facility utilize electronic health records?

What types of monitoring and sensor devices are utilized?

Do residents have wireless emergency response devices?

Does your facility have any robotic assistance

Questionnaire

Does your facility have any web based software programs to enable providers, caregivers and/or family members to monitor residents?

How important is adapting new or advanced technology to your facility?

How frequently is the pursuit of advanced or new technologies discussed at board/management facility meetings?

Questions - continued

Does your facility have a strategic plan for implementing advanced or new technologies to improve resident care?

For how long has your facility planned and budgeted financial resources for the purchase of advanced or new technologies?

What do you perceive to be the biggest barriers in implementing aging service Technologies?

Questions - continued

What strategies have you employed to overcome the barriers to implementing aging service technologies?

Are there any questions / suggestions / concerns about implementing various technologies into assisted living facilities?

Questions - continued

Our Results

9.5

85.7

4.8

Electronic Health Records (EHR)

YesNo Considering

Use of Sensing Devices

76

24

Use of Sensing Devices

YesNo

Motion Sensors Electronic Tracking Prescription Reminders

Anti-wandering doors

Anti-Fall0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Types of Electronic Monitoring

76

24

Wireless Response Buttons

YesNo

38

519

14

24

NeverLess than 1 year1 to 2 years3 to 5 yearsMore than 5

Budgeting for Technology

Barriers to Implementing Technology

Cost

Use

r Unf

riend

ly

Facili

ty In

fras

truc

ture

Lack

of T

rain

ing

Provi

der R

esista

nce

ALL of t

he a

bove

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Implementation Strategies

None Clinical Leader

Administrative Leader

Training after adoption

Employee Participation

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Positive: High adoption rate of various sensorsAnti-wandering doorsWireless devices (pendants, etc.)

Summary

87% have not looked at electronic health records

76% do not have strategic plans for implementing technology

38% have NEVER budgeted for information technologies

Negatives

71% say ‘cost’ is the biggest barrier to bringing technology solutions in to assisted living facilities

52% have ‘anti-wandering’ doors

(Many of these results are in general agreement with other studies, include CAST – the Center for Aging Services Technologies)

As expected

This was an initial study We selected two eastern states We had a fairly low response rate We found it hard to get the surveys to

the right persons and to have them fill it out

We think this does establish an early ‘baseline’ and that assisted living facilities will continue to adopt technologies as the ‘baby boomers’ need care.

Observations

We would like to try this again – with more states and more respondents

We would also like to interview technology adoption leaders in assisted living facilities for a ‘qualitative’ view of the information

Directions

Questions, Comments, Suggestions?

Thank you!!!