Grant: Oper Grant:eHealth Innov Partnership Program(eHIPP)-Seniors w Complex Care Needs

Older adults who have advancing life-limiting illnesses and who are receiving health care at home often have complex problems that affect both their ability to function and their overall quality of life (QOL). Progress has been made in the managing some aspects of chronic illness, including better ways to manage symptoms. However, health care professionals may overlook other illness experiences relevant to the QOL of patients and their family caregivers. Routine and comprehensive assessment of their QOL can make patients' and family caregivers' concerns more visible to health care professionals. This provides health care providers with more information to better address the patients' and family caregivers' concerns and track progress over time. These types of assessments involve the use of questionnaires that invite people to report on their symptoms, their physical, psychological, social and existential/spiritual wellbeing, and their experiences with the care provided. This project will investigate the integration and evaluate the impact of an innovative computer tablet-based Quality of life Assessment and Practice Support System (QPSS) in home health care to support comprehensive, repeated assessments, and interventions that address concerns and health care experiences relevant to the QOL of older adults who have life-limiting illnesses and their family caregivers. The QPSS includes carefully selected and validated questions that clinicians can use to obtain patients' and family caregivers' perspectives about their QOL and health care needs and intervene appropriately. Patients, family caregivers, and clinicians will all use the QPSS as during home visits as a routine part of the care provided. Administrators and other decision-makers will use the entire information system to improve care at all levels of the health care delivery system, ensuring that resources are used effectively.