Patient-centered Information System to Enhance Patient Experience for the Elderly and Provide Strategic Advantage for the Provider

Abstract

Despite the widespread provider acceptance of health information systems (HIS), there is little empirical evidence and no clear understanding that patient-centered HIS enhance the patient experience. This is especially true for elderly patients, whose involvement in their own care, through the use of a HIS, may have a major impact on their experience. In this study, we review opportunities for developing HIS features that support the integration of services for elderly patients while providing strategic advantages for the provider. We use the customer resource life cycle (CRLC) concept to identify the needs of patients at all stages of dealing with provider throughout the care delivery. To do so, we developed a scale that contained multiple statements for each of the 13 stages of CRLC. Then, using Q-methodology, we asked elderly patients to sort the statements in regard to HIS features that they would find beneficial if they were available to them. Using partial least squares (PLS) analysis, we tested our structural model and hypotheses and found that the perceived benefit of a patient-centered HIS has a direct effect on perceived patient experience when mediated by patient education.