Patient-Centered Care Through Health IT

Full Title: Enabling Patient-Centered Care through Health Information Technology (Health IT)

June 2012

This report focuses on the development of a comprehensive understanding of the impact of health information technology (IT) applications developed and implemented to enhance the provision of patient-centered care (PCC).
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Structured Abstract

Objectives: The main objective of the report is to review the evidence on the impact of health IT that supports patient-centered care (PCC) on:

Health care processes.
Clinical outcomes.
Intermediate outcomes (patient or provider satisfaction, health knowledge and behavior, and cost).
Responsiveness to needs and preferences of patients.
Shared decisionmaking and patient–clinician communication.
Access to information.

Additional objectives were to identify barriers and facilitators for using health IT to deliver PCC, and to identify gaps in evidence and information needed by patients, providers, payers, and policymakers.
Data Sources: MEDLINE®, Embase®, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsycINFO, INSPEC, and Compendex databases through July 31, 2010.
Methods: Paired members of our team reviewed citations to identify randomized controlled trials of PCC-related health IT interventions and studies that addressed barriers and facilitators for health IT for delivery of PCC. Independent assessors rated studies for quality. Paired reviewers abstracted data.
Results: The search identified 327 eligible articles, including 184 articles on the impact of health IT applications implemented to support PCC and 206 articles addressing barriers or facilitators for such health IT applications. Sixty-three articles addressed both questions. The study results suggested positive effects of PCC-related health IT interventions on health care process outcomes, disease-specific clinical outcomes (for diabetes mellitus, heart disease, cancer, and other health conditions), intermediate outcomes, responsiveness to the needs and preferences of patients, shared decisionmaking, patient-clinician communication, and access to medical information.
Studies reported a number of barriers and facilitators for using health IT applications to enable PCC. Barriers included:

Lack of usability.
Problems with access to the health IT application due to older age, low income, education, cognitive impairment, and other factors.
Low computer literacy in patients and clinicians.
Insufficient basic formal training in health IT applications.
Physicians' concerns about more work.
Workflow issues. Problems related to new system implementation, including concerns about confidentiality of patient information.
Depersonalization.
Incompatibility with current health care practices.
Lack of standardization.
Problems with reimbursement.

Facilitators for the utilization of health IT included ease of use, perceived usefulness, efficiency of use, availability of support, comfort in use, and site location.
Conclusions: Despite marked heterogeneity in study characteristics and quality, substantial evidence exists confirming that health IT applications with PCC-related components have a positive effect on health care outcomes.

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Enabling Patient-Centered Care through Health IT

Evidence Report (Publication No. 12-E005-EF) (PDF File, 11.3 MB; Plugin Software Help).
Executive Summary (AHRQ Publication No. 12-E005-1) (PDF File, 246 KB; Plugin Software Help)

Evidence-based Practice Center: The Johns Hopkins University EPC

Current as of June 2012

Internet Citation:

Enabling Patient-Centered Care through Health IT, Structured Abstract. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/pcchittp.htm