katok's him [17 articles]

Abstract

To examine the effectiveness of delivering of computer-generated discharge summaries to general practice by email, fax, post and patient hand delivery. Blinded, randomized controlled trial. A pre-study audit ascertaining baseline statistics and a follow-up survey were conducted with general practice to determine preferred medium for receiving discharge communication. 196 geriatric patients who were admitted to the aged care ward of a 300-bed metropolitan teaching hospital. Twenty-eight patients were lost to follow-up and 52 general practices participated in the final survey. The ...

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Politicians across the political spectrum support greater investment in health care information and communications technology (ICT) and expect it to significantly decrease costs and improve health outcomes. We address three policy questions about adoption of ICT in health care: First, why is there so little adoption? Second, what policies will facilitate and accelerate adoption? Third, what is the best pace for adoption? We first describe the unusual economics of ICT, particularly network externalities, and then determine how those economics interact with ...

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OBJECTIVE: To explore how patients use record access, its impact and the benefits and drawbacks of using it. DESIGN: Qualitative study using focus group interviews, individual interviews and telephone interviews. SETTING: General practice offering electronic access to full medical records using PAERS system. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-three patients aged between 20 and 71 years participated. Of these, nine were in the healthy group, eight had long-term health conditions, 10 were in the mental health group and 16 were pregnant. RESULTS: Three themes emerged ...

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Health information exchange (HIE) offers tremendous potential for the future, but its widespread adoption and sustainability depend upon engaging patients and earning their trust. Patients' willingness to allow their data to be shared will drive the usefulness of HIE and therefore the sustainability of regional health information organizations (RHIOs). The Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MAeHC) is one of a few organizations that have developed a successful community-based collaborative model, with more than a 90 percent opt-in rate among patients to participate in ...

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The development, implementation, and management of health care information technologies are prominent components of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. How these technologies will affect our health care system will depend on the collective choices made in the months ahead. Focusing on a limited set of near-term objectives will build trust, confer near-term benefit, and create the building blocks required to harness the altruistic and entrepreneurial motivations most likely to create future health care delivery systems. Decisionmakers must concentrate ...

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Building privacy and security protections into health information technology systems will bolster trust in such systems and promote their adoption. The privacy issue, too long seen as a barrier to electronic health information exchange, can be resolved through a comprehensive framework that implements core privacy principles, adopts trusted network design characteristics, and establishes oversight and accountability mechanisms. The public policy challenges of implementing this framework in a complex and evolving environment will require improvements to existing law, new rules for entities ...

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Patients should have the opportunity to exercise privacy rights through an account issued by a health record trust (or bank). Trusts would collect a complete digital copy of patients' health records and enable patients to make informed decisions about their use. Federal legislation is needed to promote and oversee health record trusts and to reconcile existing privacy laws with stronger privacy protection available through health record trusts. 10.1377/hlthaff.28.2.444 ...

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OBJECTIVES Only half of consultants' medical recommendations are implemented. We created a tool that lets referring providers review and implement electronic recommendations made by consultants, with the hypothesis that facilitation with our tool could improve implementation. MEASUREMENTS The tool was piloted among geriatrics consultants and hospitalists. Pre-post evaluation was done with control (before pilot; N = 20) and intervention (after pilot; N = 20) patients. Consultants wrote notes containing recommendations for all study patients, and entered electronic recommendations only for intervention ...

Abstract

10.1177/1084822308325428 ...

Abstract

BACKGROUND:First generation Internet technologies such as mailing lists or newsgroups afforded unprecedented levels of information exchange within a variety of interest groups, including those who seek health information. With emergence of the World Wide Web many communication applications were ported to web browsers. One of the driving factors in this phenomenon has been the exchange of experiential or anecdotal knowledge that patients share online, and there is emerging evidence that participation in these forums may be having an impact on people's ...

Abstract

Personal health records (PHR) are a modern health technology with the ability to engage patients more fully in their healthcare. Despite widespread interest, there has been little discussion around PHR governance at an organizational level. We develop a governance model and compare it to the practices of some of the early PHR adopters, including hospitals and ambulatory care settings, insurers and health plans, government departments, and commercial sectors. Decision-making structures varied between organizations. Business operations were present in all groups, but ...

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Objectives This study examines the availability of electronic prescription and the utilization of e-prescribing by physicians in the US.Methods Nationally representative data from the 2004-2005 Community Tracking Study Physician Survey were used to identify which subgroups of physicians have access to e-prescribing technology and which subgroups are using this technology more or less intensively. Exhaustive Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) was employed for statistical data segmentation.Results Results indicate that the rapidly increasing adoption of electronic prescription is diminished by relatively low ...

Abstract

Objectives. We tested telephone-based disease surveillance systems in local health departments to identify system characteristics associated with consistent and timely responses to urgent case reports.Methods. We identified a stratified random sample of 74 health departments and conducted a series of unannounced tests of their telephone-based surveillance systems. We used regression analyses to identify system characteristics that predicted fast connection with an action officer (an appropriate public health professional).Results. Optimal performance in consistently connecting callers with an action officer in 30 minutes ...

Abstract

This prospective questionnaire study investigated access to the Internet and use of the Internet for health related information. Patients attending the senior author's ENT clinic (204 in 2000; 209 in 2006) were asked two questions: do you have access to the Internet? Have you used the Internet to find health related information? Access to the Internet rose from 43 per cent (88) in 2000 to 70 per cent (147) in 2006, a significant increase (p < 0.001). The Internet was used ...

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Primary care medical practices fail to recognize the seriousness of security threats to their patient and practice information. This can be attributed to a lack of understanding of security concepts, underestimation of potential threats and the difficulty in configuration of security technology countermeasures. To appreciate the factors contributing to such problems, research into general practitioner security practice and perceptions of security was undertaken. The investigation focused on demographics, actual practice, issues and barriers, and practitioner perception. Poor implementation, lack of relevant ...

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The notion of `integration' in the context of health information systems is ill-defined yet in widespread use. We identify a variety of meanings ranging from the purely technical integration of information systems to the integration of services. This ambiguity (or interpretive flexibility), we argue, is inherent rather than accidental: it is a necessary prerequisite for mobilizing political and ideological support among stakeholders for integrated health information systems. Building on this, our aim is to trace out the career dynamics of the ...