Feasibility Testing of Health Information Technology: Enabled Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement in the Home Health...

The use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) to improve patient outcomes, communication, and shared decision-making is of significance to home healthcare. Clinicians have begun to integrate health information technology (HIT) enabled PROM platforms (such as tablets) into routine care to facilitate collection of PROMs. To evaluate the feasibility and suitability of incorporating PROMs into the overall workflow in home healthcare, and integrating data collected with electronic health records (EHRs), we engaged two home healthcare agencies as pilot sites over the course of 4 months. We provided tablets enabled with an app version of the validated Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System to collect patient data. This was followed by surveys, interviews, and observations on aspects of feasibility, which we analyzed using summary statistics and qualitative analysis. Results show that the implementation of the HIT-enabled PROMs in the home healthcare setting is suitable for workflow, without negatively impacting goals of care. Additionally, the tablets were considered user-friendly by both clinicians and patients. Key to the utility of HIT-enabled PROMs in home healthcare is the integration of the data collected with existing data systems, in order to facilitate quality and improve outcomes, the success of which can depend on EHR platform ownership and the related ability or access to modify EHRs.