Long-term and post-acute care organizations have not received the same support as other care settings for creating interoperable patient data tools, putting home health and hospice providers at a disadvantage, according to new research by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Electronic health records (EHRs) are used by the vast majority of long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) providers. Within the home health and hospice industries, roughly 78% of providers have adopted an EHR, according to the study. And while their functionality is largely the same as those used in other care settings, EHRs used by home care and hospice providers fall short when it comes to their interoperability capabilities. 

A key reason for this, HHS found, is that LTPAC organizations have not been incentivized to use interoperable technology in the same way as other healthcare providers.

“Due to thin operating margins, lack of adequate financial incentives has made it difficult to fund and implement interoperable HIT systems,” HHS said in its December report. “Organizations need a system or market reason to exchange data. Without the proper financial and policy incentives, it will be difficult to make organic progress toward interoperability.”

Meanwhile, other care settings have been able to benefit from government programs that encourage use of interoperable health data tools. Hospitals, for example, were selected to participate in Promoting Interoperability Programs, which offered financial incentives for implementing interoperable HIT.

And since hospitals and other acute care settings received this head start, many LTPAC providers have not been able to lay the groundwork to create interoperable HIT systems.

“Providers and vendors do not have a clear understanding of what data reporting and interoperability requirements will be in the future,” the report noted. “LTPAC organizations and vendors are left to do what they think is best, with limited guidance resulting in the lack of standardized and codified data to support interoperability,” the report said. 

LTPAC organizations have long petitioned lawmakers for help with creating interoperable patient data tools. And while hospitals were successful in earning this support, home health and hospice providers have not been able to do the same, HHS said in its report.

Still, the “next big step” in nationwide health data interoperability may be yet to come. The Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) has been slated for launch in the first quarter of 2024, and will create interoperable functionality among five EHR systems. LTPAC stakeholders have expressed hopes that TEFCA might benefit, rather than overlook, home health and hospice providers.

PointClickCare, already long-term care’s largest health records and technology platform, has expanded its footprint by acquiring American HealthTech, the companies announced Wednesday morning.

The move continues a trend, said industry expert Majd Alwan, PhD, the chief strategy and growth officer for Thrivewell Tech, a digital transformation agent that helps providers. He was not involved in the deal.

“It’s another step in the consolidation of the market and the acquisition of smaller players who have not been able to grow,” Alwan said. “It has been going on for quite some time.”

He said that AHT clients are among the winners because they will gain access to a platform that is “continuing to grow and evolve.”

“I’m really impressed with the level of integrations and add-on software that’s available” under the PCC umbrella, he added.

It also marks the end of an era for AHT, a “home-grown” platform that originated with a single provider and grew into a commercial offering as peers adopted the platform. Alwan said he originally encountered AHT as the long-time former leader of LeadingAge’s Center for Aging Services Technologies, or CAST.

A database he created with that group most recently showed that AHT had 3,300 skilled nursing, assisted living and continuing care retirement / life plan community clients as of 2023. PointClickCare counts more than 30,000 healthcare entities as clients, spanning the SNF, assisted living, independent living, CCRC and rehab sectors, along with a minority of acute-care partners.

PCC co-founder and CEO Dave Wessinger declined to disclose financial terms of the deal, nor how many providers might be affected. But he told McKnight’s that almost 40 AHT employees will be joining the privately held PCC.

“We are acquiring American HealthTech because we see great growth potential together,” he said. 

“Thanks to our robust and most-comprehensive data set, we will be able to provide AHT’s customers’ care teams with important updates to products and solutions they will need as care delivery continues to evolve, and as the needs of their patients become more complex — including access to technology that can provide deeper connectivity with acute care settings through a more comprehensive network,” he added in a statement.

More than 27,000 long-term and post-acute care providers, more than 100 hospitals and health systems, more than 3,600 ambulatory clinics, every major US health plan and more than 70 state and government agencies currently use PointClickCare, the company said.

AHT was a wholly owned subsidiary of Computer Programs and Systems Inc., or CPSI, which provides electronic health records systems and related services to post-acute providers.

“As part of our ongoing business transformation, we have decided to divest AHT and therefore discontinue development of the AHT product,” explained CPSI President and CEO Chris Fowler in a joint statement from the companies. Fowler said the two companies “share similar cultures and values,” making the merger an “ideal fit for AHT, its clients and employees.”

Wessinger told McKnight’s that the transaction comes at a pivotal time in PCC’s evolution.

“In 2024, we are laser-focused on addressing critical gaps in healthcare to better serve high-needs populations through an expanding care collaboration network,” he noted. “Through this acquisition, we continue to fulfill the mission of modernizing healthcare by helping an expanding number of providers improve patient outcomes across care settings, including skilled nursing and senior living communities.” 

PointClickCare’s integrated platform delivers real-time, actionable insights at the point of care to ease transitions and foster better post-discharge outcomes, the company said. It added that it possesses the industry’s “most expansive dataset.”

“PointClickCare’s mission has always been, and continues to be, addressing critical gaps in healthcare to better serve high-needs populations through a robust care collaboration network,” Wessinger added.