Maimonides Medical Center: Older Patients and Electronic Health Records

The challenge

Maimonides Medical Center, a regional leader in the use of health IT to improve patient care and coordination, wanted to help ensure geriatric patients could access medical information through the hospital’s Electronic Health Record system.

The strategy

Provide geriatric patients with access to hardware and connectivity at home, and provide a mixture of home visits and remote access training sessions to develop and maintain technology skills and habits.

The solution

OATS worked closely with the Department of Geriatrics at Maimonides to develop a three-month program to install laptops in the homes of 24 frail older adults and train them to use the hospital’s health IT assets. OATS purchased and installed laptops for all participants, and secured connectivity through a partnership with Verizon. OATS developed and delivered a 245-page curriculum, Patients Accessing Technology at Home, to teach the seniors how to use the computers and to manage health information and processes. OATS staff conducted ten home visits and ten remote training sessions for all participants, covering computer basics as well as health-specific topics: managing health information, building a care team, taking charge of health processes, and enhancing quality of life at home. The program received positive feedback from both providers and patients, who found the technology facilitated communication and improved the quality of life of participants.