Abstract

Historically, home healthcare has been carried out by independent organizations that provided limited-scope services in a home-only setting. But as capitation takes hold throughout the country, it is becoming clear for healthcare providers, payers and patients, that home care is often the most beneficial way of providing major portions of patient care. A central challenge remains for IT executives: How to seamlessly integrate a growing number of roaming home care workers into the enterprise's core information processing system? In order to integrate home healthcare personnel into a contemporary IT environment, one must address minimum requirements related to electronic communication: a venue-transparent electronic patient record; real time communication; best practices support; integration of personnel; and mobile computing.