Health Information Technology Trend Reports Are Now Available

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Pat Stricker, RN, MEd
Senior Vice President
TCS Healthcare Technologies

I hope you had a chance to attend the 2-part webinar that presented an overview of the2012 Health Information Technology (HIT) Survey: How Technology Is Changing the Practice of Care Management.If so, you heard how swift advancements in technology are transforming the practice of case management.

This is the third time the Case Management Society of America (CMSA), TCS Healthcare Technologies (TCS), and the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians, Inc. (ABQAURP) have joined forces to sponsor this bi-annual survey (2008, 2010, and 2012).

Tracking key health information trends over this period of time has revealed emerging patterns in Health IT usage, how HIT systems are supporting health care professionals, and which functionalities are essential in optimizing clinical, business, and financial outcomes.  The results also identified how new technology is changing the way health professionals interact with their patients.

Instead of a large White Paper, a series of 9 Trend Reports are being published that will provide an in-depth analysis of each aspect of the survey. Detailed information, charts, analysis, and conclusions will be included for each area, along with a comparison of the data from all three surveys. Trend Reports 1 & 2 have just been released.

• Trend Report #1: Introduction & Methodology Overview provides a background on the participants, sampling technique, methodology, and survey execution. 

• Trend Report #2:  Communication and Social Media assesses traditional, current, and emerging patient communication channels. Not surprisingly, respondents indicated a significant decrease in the use of traditional communication methods, such as letters and facsimile, while email, text messaging, and smartphones showed a significant increase as a primary means of communication. Respondents also predict an increase in all areas of emerging communications over the next few years, including the use of social media and blogging to connect with patients. 

Trend Reports #3-9, to be released over the next several months, will include detailed information about the other areas of the survey:  Case Management Functions, Transitions of Care & Readmissions, Patient Engagement Strategies, Information Technology Infrastructure, Caseloads, Data Analytics & ROI, and Satisfactions & the Adoption Curve.

Copies of the Trend Reports are available on theTCS Healthcare Technologieswebsite.

If you missed the 2-part Webinar series, these are also available on theTCS Healthcare TechnologiesandCMSAwebsites.  For your convenience, the Webinars are also approved by the California Board of Nursing for 1.2 hours of Nursing CEs.

While we all may have a "love/hate relationship" with technology at times, the survey highlights how closely we are connected to technology now and how that connection will tend to increase in the coming years.  Sometimes it seems like technology is slowing us down, but at other times we realize we can’t do our job without it. Can you even imagine what it will be like in the future when we truly do have an integrated system with everyone having access to the same information? We’ve been waiting a long time for that and I know it seems like an impossible feat right now, but that day is coming (slowly but surely)!

To contact Pat Stricker:

Email her atpstricker@tcshealthcare.comor reach her at (530) 886-1700 ext. 215.

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