Main post: While servicing clients in the home care setting, over 11,800 Medicar

Main post: While servicing clients in the home care setting, over 11,800 Medicare-certified HHC agencies provide valued care across the United States. Unfortunately, HHC and other post-acute care settings were omitted from Meaningful Use regulations requiring basic HIT functionality. Thus, progress supporting smooth information transfer and associated decision support must catch up to acute and ambulatory care. While the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology initially funded longitudinal care coordination and electronic health information exchange (HIE) standards development for HHC, the funding was discontinued to address national health information network-to-network exchange. This is unfortunate because the networks rarely include HHC agencies. Current applications that are integrated into hospital electronic health record systems (EHRs) cannot be repurposed for HHC due to the unique home environment. Unlike in acute care settings, HHC clinicians operate independently under physician orders to function effectively, they need information to make specific decisions while in the home, and they often lack stable access to the internet. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, nurse informaticists in charge of training provided hands-on, face-to-face sessions; however, they pivoted quickly to a hybrid state due to social distancing guidelines. Classes were redesigned to accommodate prework and scheduled distance learning sessions via online meeting platforms. The pandemic shed light on challenges related to access, computer literacy, language barriers, and other social determinants of health. Through social media chats, nursing informatics specialists disseminated these issues and increased awareness about health equity by promoting HR 7663, which is intended to protect seniors’ access to telehealth. Whether inpatient or outpatient, clinicians and patients utilize online portal systems, electronic medical records, data collection devices such as vital sign machines and glucometers, personal data devices, and email, to name a few. When considering these systems and how they affect the process and flow of the clinical setting, it is essential to consider not only the technology at hand but also the workflow and the data collection process. Providers who do not typically use an EHR are now on a learning curve while maintaining their patient caseload and providing comprehensive care. However, this vast amount of data collection across many healthcare settings has provided opportunities for care enhancements. While the initial rollout of these initiatives may cause chaos, the benefits will allow clinicians to provide comprehensive, safe, evidence-based care to all of their patients. Healthcare staff can quickly and safely access pertinent information on their patients throughout the health institution and beyond. Enhanced care delivery, improved health outcomes, and advanced patient education are just a few improved aspects. With any new technology or innovation, there are foreseeable implications, and some come to light after unveiling the new process or product: some of the most notable impacts are clinical, managerial, and policy implications. Healthcare and nursing informatics are vastly growing fields within the medical field and continuously incorporate new and evolving technology. Both have been around for the past three decades, at least. The technology boom at the turn of the century has helped informatics and information systems further evolve. References Sockolow, P. S., Bowles, K. H., Topaz, M., Koru, G., Hellesø, R., O’Connor, M., & Bass, E. J. (2021). The Time is Now: Informatics Research Opportunities in Home Health Care. Applied clinical informatics, 12(1), 100–106. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1722222 Sweeney, J. (2017). Healthcare Informatics. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21(1), 4–1. Garcia-Dia, Mary Joy DNP, RN, FAAN. Nursing informatics: An evolving specialty. Nursing Management (Springhouse) 52(5):p 56, May 2021. | DOI: 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000743444.08164.b4