Ohio initiative delivers patient-centered care
Person-centered care, propelled by technology, care planning and integration, can improve outcomes, lower costs and bolster efficiency, according to speakers at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s Oct. 16 webinar that focused on person-centered care.
“The Imagine Project,” an initiative at the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) involves an electronic, interactive platform that supports person-centered practices. The new system is cutting administrative costs and allowing the state to standardize individual service plans, according to John Martin, director of DODD.
The “bottom-up” pilot currently reaches 2,600 individuals in 88 counties in the state. Specifically, the system helps individuals and their families create and coordinate service plans for skills development and achievement of individual life goals utilizing person-centered principles, Martin explained.
When a care team member views an individual’s portal page, that person’s interests, a list of the important people in their lives and their preferred methods of communication, among other personal facts, are laid out in a user-friendly fashion.
If a new staffer is helping a patient, “they know right away his interests and can start building a relationship that is so important,” he said. That patient has total control over the profile and who can access it.
Features of the site include the availability of person-centered documents, like a list of specific desired outcomes as fashioned by the patient and family; action plans; resources; and agreements. Each person has very specific and unique goals, according to Debra Albert, project owner.
The system also contains supporting components, including a notification system, learning log, alerts when attention from the care team is immediately needed and pictures. Also embedded in the system is essential health information, such as allergy information, what devices that patient requires, special dietary information, a medication list and instructions on whether to resuscitate.
Training has proven critical to the execution of the project. "People just want to learn technology, but you need to understand person-centered planning before you start that,” Martin said.