The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has issued a report that examines the use of health IT in ambulatory care practice redesign and the subsequent impact on patients and provider workflow.
The report, “Using Health Information Technology in Practice Redesign: Impact of Health IT on Workflow – Patient Reported Health Information Technology and Workflow,” documents the workflow impacts of applications that allow patients to electronically share information with their primary care providers. Information-sharing technologies had both positive and negative effects on clinician and staff workflow, while patients generally reported that these technologies had a positive impact on their ability to share information with their provider.
With two exceptions, the clinics studied did not redesign their workflows to incorporate the capture and use of patient-related information. AHRQ will release additional research from related projects on health IT and workflow later this year.
Read the report.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.