Literature Review and Synthesis: Existing Surveys on Health Information Technology, including Surveys on Health Information Technology in Nursing Homes and Home Health

In an effort to better understand the adoption and use rates of electronic health records (EHRs) and other health information technology (HIT) applications in nursing homes and home health agencies, the University of Colorado was contracted to: (i) review the literature on surveys on adoption, use, and barriers to HIT adoption and use by nursing homes and home health agencies, and compare these surveys with surveys on HIT adoption by physician offices and hospitals; and (ii) develop survey instruments that could be used to gather information about HIT adoption and use in nursing homes, and barriers to adoption and use in nursing homes. Although numerous survey instruments have been fielded to assess HIT use in nursing homes and home health agencies, the lack of consistent definitions, terminology, item construction, sampling frames, and measurement criteria render it difficult to accurately gauge current HIT adoption rates. In this report, the authors review existing surveys for long-term care and other provider settings pertaining to current HIT use and adoption, barriers to adoption, and recommend issues to consider when developing survey questions for future surveys on HIT adoption, use, and barriers to adoption and use in nursing homes. A follow-up report will recommend survey questions that could be used in future surveys to gather information on HIT adoption, use, and barriers to adoption and use in nursing homes. [94 PDF pages]