ONC Highlights Health IT Opportunities in Long-Term and Postacute Care

​Noting the complicating effects of communication failures, poor coordination, and adverse drug events during transitions in care, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has published Health IT in Long-term and Post Acute Care, an issue brief outlining the opportunities provided by health information technology (IT) to mitigate these complications. Because long-term care providers have different clinical needs than acute and primary care providers, where most efforts have been focused, and are not able to take advantage of the same financial incentives for health IT adoption, long-term and other postacute care providers have been slower than other settings to adopt health IT, ONC states. Nonetheless, the report cites examples of nursing homes and hospitals working together to incorporate health IT into their transitions process to improve communication and care coordination. Remote monitoring of home care patients is cited as an additional example.