Answers compiled during the Long-Term and Post-Acute Care (LTPAC) Health IT Summit in Baltimore.

“Having a timely and single source of connectivity in our state. We’ve made progress, but we talk to states who have done it for five or six years. We’re trying to get in HIE.”
— Jakenna Lebsock, MPA, Quality Improvement Manager, Division of Health Care Management, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Phoenix

“Interoperability. We’re very new at implementing electronic health records into our 14 long-term care facilities. We are still in the stages of implementation, but we need to be able to do ACOs with hospitals.”
— Teri Leja, RN, BSN, EMR Clinical Implementation Manager, Berkshire Healthcare, Pittsfield, MA

“It’s ensuring that technology is user-friendly. We have to ensure technology supports the person’s perspective.”
— Beth Halley, RN, Principal Advisor, Center for Transforming Health, Mitre, McLean, VA

“There are so many physicians you are coding with, and so many records, and they can be verbal, through fax, in a record — there are so many different ways. It’s hard to present one solution. There needs to be some sort of hub. Right now, there are so many variables.”
— Tamara Stepanek, BSN, RN, CPHIMS, Director of IT – Informatics, Immanuel Communities, Omaha, NE

“It’s providing tools our clinicians value, while at the same time balancing regulatory requirements, cost, security and ease of use.”
— Sue Simanski, CIO, Nursing Center Division, Kindred Healthcare, Louisville, KY

“Interoperability between the many different softwares used in LTC and PAC. One example is  when you look at pharmacy and medication, it’s a challenge in pulling that information in, and aggregating it with other data in a meaningful way.  It’s about how information is moved along. There’s a huge gap. Smaller EMR companies have built an ability to connect to certain pharmacies, but everyone doesn’t speak the same language. There’s a disconnect.”
— Arnold Possick, Chief Strategy Officer, Los Angeles Jewish Home, Reseda, CA

“Readiness is crucial because it takes into account availability of technological systems, knowledgeable personnel to implement and manage IT systems, and committed stakeholders. This is to assure that IT connectivity can be maximized and supported on both ends of the network. “
— Gregory L. Alexander, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Professor, Sinclair School of Nursing, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO

From the September 01, 2015 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News