PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT OF OLDER ADULTS IN THE HOME HEALTH CARE SETTING

Demand for home health care services for older adults is rapidly increasing. Older adults have the greatest number of chronic diseases and consequently are the largest consumers of home health care services in the US. Patient-centered technologies that support personal health information management for patients, such as patient portals, are being developed; however, little is known about how older adults and their caregivers use patient portals and whether health information is exchanged between patients and home health care providers. Home health care nurses represent the largest group of home health care providers. The purpose of our qualitative study is to gain insight into the health information exchange between older adults and home health care nurses. We are conducting semi-structured interviews with approximately 15–20 home health care nurses employed by two home health care agencies located in Philadelphia and in Seattle. We have completed nine interviews and intend to continue enrolling participants until we reach saturation. We will discuss the results of our qualitative interviews including the role of home health care nurses in personal health information management of older adults, specifically with regard to patient portal use. We will analyze barriers and facilitators to health information exchange between older adults and home health care nurses. These findings will contribute to the development of design criterial for a tool to support the health information management needs of older adults, their caregivers, and their providers.