Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Dec;44(12):731-740.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcjq.2018.03.006. Epub 2018 Jun 18.

Using Health IT to Coordinate Care and Improve Quality in Safety-Net Clinics

Ashley M Kranz  1 , Sarah Dalton  2 , Cheryl Damberg  3 , Justin W Timbie  4
Affiliations

Using Health IT to Coordinate Care and Improve Quality in Safety-Net Clinics

Ashley M Kranz et al. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2018 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Health centers provide care to vulnerable and high-need populations. Recent investments have promoted use of health information technology (HIT) capabilities for improving care coordination and quality of care in health centers. This study examined factors associated with use of these HIT capabilities and the association between these capabilities and quality of care in a census of health centers in the United States.

Methods: Cross-sectional secondary data from the 2015 Health Resources and Services Administration's Uniform Data System was used to examine 6 measures of HIT capability related to care coordination and clinical decision support and 16 measures of quality (12 process measures, 3 outcome measures, 1 composite measure) for health centers in the United States. Adjusted logistic regressions were used to examine health center characteristics associated with use of HIT capabilities, and adjusted linear regressions were used to examine associations between HIT capabilities and quality of care.

Results: Many health centers reported using HIT for care coordination activities, including coordinating enabling services (67.3%) or engaging patients (81.0%). Health center size and medical home recognition were associated with significantly greater odds of using HIT for enabling services and engaging patients. These HIT capabilities were associated with higher overall quality and higher rates of six process measures (adult screening and maternal and child health) and hemoglobin A1c control.

Conclusion: Use of HIT for such activities as arranging enabling services and engaging patients are underleveraged tools for care coordination. There may be opportunities to further improve quality of care for vulnerable patients by promoting health centers' use of these HIT capabilities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Describes the prevalence of enhanced HIT capabilities in health centers (UDS 2015)
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Describes the prevalence of health center process and outcome quality of care measures (UDS 2015)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Health center program grantee data [Internet]. Rockville, MD: Health Resources and Services Administration; 2016. Available from: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/uds/datacenter.aspx
    1. Chartbook: a sketch of community health centers [Internet]. Bethesda, MD: National Association of Community Health Centers; 2016. Available from: http://www.nachc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Chartbook16.pdf
    1. Shi L, Lebrun LA, Zhu J, Hayashi AS, Sharma R, Daly CA, et al. Clinical quality performance in US health centers. Health Serv Res. 2012;47(6):2225–49. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Timbie JW, Setodji CM, Kress A, Lavelle TA, Friedberg MW, Mendel PJ, et al. Implementation of Medical Homes in Federally Qualified Health Centers. N Engl J Med. 2017;377:246–56. - PubMed
    1. Weir R, Prosser M. Highlighting the role of enabling services at health centers: collecting data to support service expansion & enhanced funding. Bethesda, MD: National Association of Community Health Centers & Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations; 2010. Available from: http://www.nachc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/EnablingServicesReport.pdf

Publication types

MeSH terms