The contribution of electronic health records to risk management through accreditation of residential aged care homes in Australia

Abstract

Background: The Australian government has implemented a compulsory aged care accreditation system to guide and monitor the risk management approach in registered residential aged care (RAC) homes. This research assessed the contribution of electronic health records (EHR) to risk management in RAC homes in relation to the extent that aged care accreditation fulfils its role. Methods: A convenience sample of 5560 aged care accreditation reports published from 2011 to 2018 was manually downloaded from the Accreditation Agency web site. A mixed-method approach of text data mining and manual content analysis was used to identify any significant differences in failure to meet accreditation outcomes among the RAC homes. This took account of whether EHR or paper records were used, year of accreditation, and size and location of the homes. Results: It appears that aged care accreditation was focused on structure and process, with limited attention to outcome. There was a big variation between homes in their use of measurement indicators to assess accreditation outcomes. No difference was found in outcomes between RAC homes using EHR and those using paper records. Only 3% of the RAC homes were found to have failed some accreditation outcomes. Failure in monitoring mechanism was the key factor for failing many accreditation outcomes. The top five failed outcomes were Human Resource Management, Clinical Care, Information Systems, Medication Management and Behavioural Management.

Transforming the Pension Industry Based on Aged Care Quality Reports

“…The epidemic prevention problem of large-scale aged care institutions is particularly prominent, medical resources are in short supply to varying levels, and some aged care institutions even have unmanaged problems [1,7] . Fortunately, information technology has a certain basis for development, and smart aged care services have developed to a certain extent, and more supervision can be achieved online [4,7] .…”

“…How to maintain the normal operation of aged care institutions and ensure the quality of services under the premise that the existing medical and financial resources are insufficient has become a major research direction at present [8][9][10] . At present, some aged care homes have been unable to obtain sufficient software and hardware upgrades for a long time, the problem of human resource shortages continues to exist, and medical services need a long wait [4,5] . However, the supervisory agency of aged care has lost the ability to supervise on-site due to the impact of the epidemic.…”

“…Under the premise that the existing aged care institutions cannot perform their functions, or have insufficient capacity, or even temporarily lose their functions due to the epidemic, the management of aged care organizations should think about how to provide more aged care services online at home [8][9][10] . Existing aged care facilities will face difficult maintenance problems due to lack of funds, and the elderly in this round of epidemics are more likely to be infected, which determines that aged care institutions become a high-risk area [4] . In some countries, pension institutions even failed to pay attention to the necessity of industrial transformation [1][2][3]8] .…”

“…Due to its high-risk and low-return characteristics, the pension industry has brought many social problems to many countries in recent years [1][2][3] . Many countries in the world have a monitoring and supervision mechanism for the pension industry [4][5][6] . In Australia, aged care homes need to ensure that their service quality matches the 44 expected results required by the government, and regulators regularly conduct evaluations and spot checks of aged care services to determine their service quality [4] .…”

“…Many countries in the world have a monitoring and supervision mechanism for the pension industry [4][5][6] . In Australia, aged care homes need to ensure that their service quality matches the 44 expected results required by the government, and regulators regularly conduct evaluations and spot checks of aged care services to determine their service quality [4] . In recent years, with the outbreak of the Covid-19, many problems that are difficult to control have emerged in the pension industry [1][2][3] .…”