Health information technology

Current Projects

• Challenges to Implementing Recommended Cybersecurity Practices at Rural Hospitals
  This project seeks to identify and describe financial costs of adopting recommended cybersecurity practices at rural hospitals, differences in cybersecurity challenges faced by Critical Access Hospitals and other rurally-located hospitals, and workforce-related challenges such as recruitment and retention of qualified information technology and information security professionals.
  Research center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Health information technology, Healthcare access, Hospitals and clinics, Workforce
  
• Strengthening Interoperability for Rural Hospitals: The Role of TEFCA
  The digital divide between rural and urban hospitals (a gap in adoption and use of robust IT tools to support care delivery) has narrowed considerably in recent years. And yet, hospitals in rural communities are still struggling with access to and routine use of interoperable health information exchange (HIE) capabilities. The Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) is the federal policy solution to offering all healthcare organizations an on-ramp to interoperable HIE, particularly entities that lack other vendor-specific alternatives. This project seeks to describe rates of TEFCA participation among Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and other rurally located hospitals, and characterize whether and how reported barriers to interoperability vary based on TEFCA participation.
  Research center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Health information technology, Healthcare access, Hospitals and clinics, Telehealth, Workforce