We propose to study the information needs of elders and their adult children who are involved in their care by building a living laboratory which we are calling InfoSAGE (Information Sharing Across Generations and Environments). InfoSAGE will allow us to study real-life situations of elders and the challenges for families of communicating, coordinating, and collaborating with complex and costly care environments. Elderly patients may face diminishing cognitive function and may need to transfer aspects of control of their personal health information and decision making to one or more family members. We hypothesize that these elders will still want to retain governance over some of their healthcare information and decision-making, but gradually transition to a shared model. Our goal is gain an understanding of the healthcare information 'ecosystem' that can support the special needs of the independent elder, yet also be capable of supporting an incremental transition to shared management of information, decision making and communication. We will utilize the senior care system at Hebrew Senior Life to longitudinally study patient and family collaborative interactions and information management behaviors in the context of real healthcare decision- making and care tasks. We will evaluate the extent to which InfoSAGE improves the patient's and family's sense of awareness and control over long term care plans as well as optimizes overall resource utilization around care transitions. The outcome of this work will be a robust model of the healthcare information management infrastructure needed to meet the growing needs of elders, their adult children and other caretakers.

Public Health Relevance

We propose to study the information needs of elders and their adult children who are involved in their care and home needs. We will build a 'living laboratory' which we are calling InfoSAGE (Information Sharing Across Generations and Environments) to study real-life situations of elders and the challenges for families of communicating, coordinating, and collaborating with complex and costly care environments. Our study puts elders and their family at the center of information and communication.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HS021495-05
Application #
9222719
Study Section
Health Care Technology and Decision Science (HTDS)
Program Officer
AL-Showk, Shafa
Project Start
2013-05-15
Project End
2018-02-28
Budget Start
2017-03-01
Budget End
2018-02-28
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
$447,400
Indirect Cost
Name
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Department
Type
Independent Hospitals
DUNS #
071723621
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02215
Quintana, Yuri; Crotty, Bradley; Fahy, Darren et al. (2018) Information sharing across generations and environments (InfoSAGE): study design and methodology protocol. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 18:105
Walker, Jan; Crotty, Bradley H; O'Brien, Jacqueline et al. (2017) Addressing the Challenges of Aging: How Elders and Their Care Partners Seek Information. Gerontologist 57:955-962
Quintana, Yuri; Crotty, Bradley; Fahy, Darren et al. (2017) InfoSAGE: Use of Online Technologies for Communication and Elder Care. Stud Health Technol Inform 234:280-285
Pandolfe, Frank; Crotty, Bradley H; Safran, Charles (2016) Medication Harmony: A Framework to Save Time, Improve Accuracy and Increase Patient Activation. AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2016:1959-1966
Bajracharya, Adarsha S; Crotty, Bradley H; Kowaloff, Hollis B et al. (2016) Improving health care proxy documentation using a web-based interview through a patient portal. J Am Med Inform Assoc 23:580-7
Crotty, Bradley H; Walker, Jan; Dierks, Meghan et al. (2015) Information Sharing Preferences of Older Patients and Their Families. JAMA Intern Med 175:1492-7
Crotty, B H; Mostaghimi, A; O'Brien, J et al. (2015) Prevalence and Risk Profile Of Unread Messages To Patients In A Patient Web Portal. Appl Clin Inform 6:375-82
Fischer, Shira H; David, Daniel; Crotty, Bradley H et al. (2014) Acceptance and use of health information technology by community-dwelling elders. Int J Med Inform 83:624-35
Crotty, Bradley H; Tamrat, Yonas; Mostaghimi, Arash et al. (2014) Patient-to-physician messaging: volume nearly tripled as more patients joined system, but per capita rate plateaued. Health Aff (Millwood) 33:1817-22