Development and Pilot Analysis of the Nursing Home Health Information Technology Maturity Survey and Staging Model

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Health Informatics
• Nursing Home Administration

Background:

• Nursing homes (NHs) require robust health information technology (HIT) for quality care.
• Assessing HIT maturity is crucial for strategic development and resource allocation in NHs.
• Existing methods for evaluating NH HIT maturity may lack comprehensive psychometric validation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To psychometrically test a nursing home (NH) health information technology (HIT) maturity survey and staging model.
• To establish the reliability and validity of the survey and model for assessing HIT in NHs.
• To provide a tool for reliable assumptions about NH HIT levels.

Main Methods:

• A psychometric evaluation of a NH HIT maturity survey and staging model was conducted.
• Data were collected from 121 NH administrators (out of 429 facilities) who completed surveys between January and May 2019.
• Statistical analyses included covariance matrix, Cronbach's alpha, and principal component analysis.

Main Results:

• The survey demonstrated very good reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.86).
• Principal component analysis revealed four intuitive components explaining 80% of the variance.
• All dimensions and domains were significantly correlated, except for HIT capabilities and integration in administrative activities.

Conclusions:

• The validated NH HIT maturity survey and staging model reliably assesses nine dimensions and domains of HIT.
• The model provides a dependable method for determining total HIT maturity and stage in nursing homes.
• This tool enables reliable assumptions regarding the HIT landscape within NHs.