Health IT at Small-Care Providers Under Review

To see how health information technology systems affect workflows, government-funded researchers are planning to descend on six small medical practices in Tennessee. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) says it wants to conduct the study because previous reviews of health IT and workflow have focused on large academic medical centers and health maintenance organizations, according to a notice published in the Federal Register.

Earlier studies failed to properly consider how factors such as training, technical support and organizational culture affect findings, the agency contends. AHRQ proposes looking at six small practices affiliated with Vanderbilt University that are in different stages of implementing health IT systems. The intent is to study how health IT systems affect staff members who care for patients with diabetes.