Advancing health information technology roadmaps in long term care

Background: Our purpose is to provide evidence that health information technology should be a mainstay of all future health and social support services for older people globally, both within and across community and residential care services. Methods: This work was conducted in two phases. In phase I, the authors conducted a focused exploration by selecting a convenience sample of four long term care health information technology roadmaps, developed by members of four different long term care health information technology collaboratives in United States, Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand. During Phase II the research team carried out an extensive systematic review of existing literature sources (2000-2018) to support roadmap assumptions. Results: Using converging domains and content, we offer recommendations among five aged care roadmap domains: Strategy/Vision, Continuing Care Community, Services and Support Provided, External Clinical Support, and Administrative. Within these domains we provide recommendations in five content areas: Innovation, Policy, Evaluation, Delivery Systems and Human Resources. We recommend future strategies for LTC HIT roadmaps that include 61 emphasis areas in aged care in these content areas and domains. Conclusions: The roadmap provides a navigation tool for LTC leaders to take a strategic and comprehensive approach as they harness the potential of health information technologies to address the challenges and opportunities of LTC in the future.