Dec 10: 75% of large, non-profit long-term care facilities use EHRs

Hospitals and physician offices aren’t the only organizations getting aboard the EHR bandwagon.  Long-term care facilities are increasingly adopting electronic health records and using tablets, cell phones, and other devices to conduct e-prescribing, documentation, and sharing of information with patients and families.  The latest LeadingAge Ziegler 100 survey has found that 75.5% of large, non-profit systems use an EHR, while 83% use a point-of-service device to bring technology to the patient’s bedside, but health information exchange with external partners is still lacking.Long-term care facilities have long since adopted technologies to help improve residential life within the system, with more than 90% of facilities providing patients with internet access and greater than 80% using user-activated emergency response systems.  Automatic fall detection was available in 20% of organizations, while almost 9 out of ten use some form of access control to prevent patients from wandering unattended.  But outward-facing health IT is significantly scarcer, with few organizations participating in health information exchange with external partners.