Health and Well-Being in the Home A Global Analysis of Needs, Expectations, and Priorities for Home Health Care Technology

Health and Well-Being in the Home A Global Analysis of Needs, Expectations, and Priorities for Home Health Care Technology

From the Rand Corporation summary

n both industrialized and transitioning countries, population aging and better survivability have led to a rapid increase of the prevalence of chronic disease and disability. As a result, there is growing concern about the financial sustainability of health care systems, which is compounded by capacity constraints and workforce shortages. Advanced home health care solutions promise to mitigate these pressures by shifting care from costly institutional settings to patients’ homes and allowing patients to self-manage their conditions. A global study of the needs, priorities, and expectations of key stakeholders regarding home health care in six countries (China, France, Germany, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States) revealed that, despite their potential, such technologies face a number of barriers to adoption. Restrictive coverage and existing incentives for in-person home care create obstacles, as does limited patient readiness because of insufficient health literacy. Concerns about audience-appropriate product design and support and limited data on effectiveness and efficiency also impede uptake. Realizing the promise of telecare requires a concerted stakeholder effort, including creation of a conducive policy environment, design of convincing products, and development and dissemination of persuasive evidence.

Reducing Gun Violence: Results from an Intervention in East Los Angeles [pdf]

Reducing Gun Violence

Results from an Intervention in East Los Angeles

From the Rand Corporation Web page

How does one solve violent crime in big cities? It’s a vexing problem, and one that attracted the attention of a group of scholars at the RAND Corporation. This 82-page eBook released in 2010 takes a close look at how the Boston Gun Project might work if applied in East Los Angeles. In Boston, a coalition of researchers, community leaders, clergy, and others, worked together and designed, implemented, and monitored a project to reduce youth violence by reducing gang and gun violence. The program was quite successful, so this led the National Institute of Justice to work with RAND to see if this might work in Los Angeles. Specifically, the intervention included increased police presences, more stringent enforcement of housing codes for properties used by gang members, more stringent enforcement of parole and probation conditions, and referral of gun violations to federal prosecutors. While the program was somewhat successful when applied to this section of Los Angeles, the report recommends, “city leaders should establish processes to support agencies in such collaborations.” Both a summary of the report and the eBook in its entirety are available for free download. [KMG]

Electronic medical records not always linked to better care in hospitals, study finds

From the December 23, 2010 Eureka News Alert

Use of electronic health records by hospitals across the United States has had only a limited effect on improving the quality of medical care, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Studying a wide mix of hospitals nationally, researchers found that hospitals with basic electronic health records demonstrated a significantly higher increase in quality of care for patients being treated for heart failure.

However, similar gains were not noted among hospitals that upgraded to advanced electronic health records, and hospitals with electronic health records did not have higher quality care among patients treated for heart attack or pneumonia.

The findings, published online by the American Journal of Managed Care, are part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that new methods should be developed to measure the impact of health information technology on the quality of hospital care…..