Stratis Health and Aging Services of Minnesota Release the Health Information Technology Toolkit for Home Health Agencies

Published Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Stratis Health presented the new Health Information Technology (HIT) Toolkit for Home Health Agencies at the Minnesota e-Health Summit 2009 on June 24, 2009. The Health Information Technology Toolkit for Home Health Agencies helps home health agencies, private duty nursing services, and home-based hospices, and other organizations providing health care services in the home assess their readiness, plan, select, implement, make effective use of, and exchange important information about the clients you serve.

The toolkit helps Minnesota home health agencies meet the state mandate to have an interoperable electronic health record (EHR) system in place by 2015. Stratis Health developed the toolkit, with funding from Aging Services of Minnesota and its subsidiary Alliance Purchasing. It is available online at http://www.stratishealth.org/HIT_Toolkit_HH.

“Adopting and effectively utilizing health information technology (HIT) can be a daunting process,” said Stratis Health’s President and CEO Jennifer Lundblad. “The HIT Toolkit for Home Health Agencies will have a significant impact on the ability of Minnesota agencies to understand, adopt, and utilize the most appropriate technology to measure and improve the quality of care they provide to their clients.”

Using its extensive experience in helping providers adopt HIT and in working with home health agencies on quality improvement and patient safety, Stratis Health developed the HIT Toolkit with tested tools to help agencies plan and make the right choices. The toolkit can be used for implementing a comprehensive EHR system, with integrated orders and e-prescribing, full electronic charting, and remote access to other providers. It also can be used for acquiring individual applications or overhauling existing systems. The toolkit contains numerous resources, including tools for hospice, telehealth, health information exchange, and personal health records.

Although many home health agencies have used HIT for some time to support administrative processes, they have not had an EHR system to help them meet their goals to improve client safety, quality of care, efficiency, communication, and coordination of care across care settings.

“Aging Services of Minnesota and Stratis Health are committed to improving care for Minnesota’s home health clients,” stated Aging Services’ President and CEO Gayle Kvenvold.

In February 2009, the two organizations released the HIT Toolkit for Nursing Homes. Stratis Health is updating its toolkits for physician offices and for critical access and small hospitals for release online in August 2009.

Stratis Health is a nonprofit organization founded in 1971 that leads collaboration and innovation in health care quality and safety, and serves as a trusted expert in facilitating improvement for people and communities. Stratis Health - Health Information Services, 952-854-3306, info@stratishealth.org.

Aging Services of Minnesota (formerly Minnesota Health & Housing Alliance) is Minnesota's largest association of aging services organizations, which are working together to create the future of older adult services through excellence and innovation. 651-645-4545, info@agingservicesmn.org