Incorporating health IT into primary care transformation.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Health Informatics
• Primary Care Medicine

Background:

• Advanced primary care models necessitate robust health information technology (IT) for success.
• The Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) initiative formalized the role of health IT vendors and set specific IT requirements for practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the role of health IT vendors and functionality in supporting advanced primary care.
• To identify challenges and facilitators for health IT implementation in the CPC+ model.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods evaluation using surveys and interviews from 2017-2022.
• Content analysis of qualitative data from practices and vendors to identify themes.

Main Results:

• Practices and vendors reported improvements in registries and dashboards for information management.
• Significant challenges remain in interoperable health information exchange for care coordination.
• Vendor investment in new functionalities is constrained by development cycles and the limited strategic relevance for their broader client base.

Conclusions:

• Continued collaboration among stakeholders is crucial for advancing health IT.
• Aligning IT requirements across different models can mitigate vendor risks and encourage innovation.