Electronic Health Records (EHR)

• Home health agencies are seeing the need to adopt electronic health records and management systems, as 60% of potential referrals will choose an agency with digital capability over a facility with no digital information option.
• Agencies need systems which build interoperability, which consists of various systems and devices being able to connect and share information.
• Several health record applications have been developed to create electronic health record management for home health agencies, allowing for daily record updates and communication.

Home Health Providers

• Many home health agencies exist in the United States, with some of the largest providers being Kindred Healthcare, LHC Group Inc, Encompass Health, AccentCare, and Amedisys.
• Kindred Healthcare was ranked the top home health provider in 2019 by national market share rankings.
• Amedisys and LHC Group were ranked numbers 2 and 3, respectively, followed by Encompass and AccentCare.

Kindred Healthcare

• Kindred partnered with Netsmart in 2018 to create an electronic platform for record and care management.
• The new platform was expected to allow information to be exchanged to coordinate care, such as medical orders and authorizations.
• The Netsmart Referral Manager program was implemented by Kindred in 2019, which has assisted in streamlining patient admissions.
• Kindred's privacy policy notes healthcare information may be disclosed to doctors, nurses, volunteers, technicians, and others involved in one's care, but the method of this is not identified in detail.
• Kindred partnered with Humana to increase the ability for seniors to remain in their homes and receive care. Part of this initiative included using data sharing applications to communicate concerns and needs for patients between members of their care team.

Summary