The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) has announced the completion of The BlackBerry® Report: The National State of the Home Care Industry Study. The study, conducted to provide insights into essential advances and reforms in the delivery of home
health care services, is intended to help providers of these crucial services
prepare for pending overall health care reform.

The study, the largest of its kind, is designed to drive best practices that
can be shared for the benefit of the whole industry. The study demonstrates
the collaboration within the home care industry to prepare for proposed
reimbursement cuts, and to retool to use technology and data to improve
quality and patient care.

The first analysis of the BlackBerry Report revealed key insights
that underscore the home care industry’s commitment to the utilization of
technology to enhance quality and improve efficiencies and productivity
through the adoption of Electronic Medical Record Systems, Point of Service
(POS) Systems, hand held devices and telehealth.

Our friend and colleague, Dr. Bob Fazzi, presented the results of the survey at the NAHC annual conference in Los Angeles earlier this week. Some highlights from the study are:

• Just over 65% of all agencies now have Electronic Medical Record
         Systems.

• Eighty-three percent of these agencies report that the use of
         these systems has led to improvement in quality of care coordination.

• Nearly 40% of all agencies now use some form of POS system in the
  field.

• Handhelds account for 6.3% of hardware presently being used

• Just over 36% of those agencies seeking to purchase new hardware report that they are
         interested in handhelds.

• Twenty three percent of agencies report using telehealth systems.