(P35) Evaluation of Telehealth Readiness Assessment Tools Available for Long-Term-Care Facilities

Introduction/Objective: The aim of this study was to perform a literature search to identify and evaluate existing telehealth readiness assessment tools for long-term-care facilities for older adults.

Design/Methodology : A systematic literature review was conducted to identify existing studies and concepts of telehealth readiness assessment tools applicable to long-term-care facilities for older adults. Keywords and phrases such as “telehealth readiness,” telemedicine readiness,” “nursing home,” “residential aged care,” and “long-term care” were used to identify relevant articles.

Results: Comprehensive search of PubMed and Embase yielded 13 distinct articles that were assessed. From our literature search, no existing telehealth readiness assessment tool for long-term care facilities, specifically, was found. We did find one abstract that described creating a manual for implementing telehealth tools in post-acute care facilities, but a full article was not published. Of the 12 remaining articles, two articles described telehealth practices for providers, one on guidelines for providers in establishing age-friendly telehealth practices and the other evaluated provider readiness for telemedicine in Uganda. Two articles evaluated telehealth experiences of healthcare providers, one in long-term care and one in outpatient care of older adults. Two articles looked into understanding technical and/or clinical requirements for implementing telehealth. One article described individual readiness for telehealth in hemodialysis centers. Another article described a suite of digital solutions to aid aging and health services. Finally, another article described a telemedicine intervention in a nursing home that had not yet been completed at the time of the article. Three articles were not relevant to our original search objective.

Conclusion/Discussion : A common theme seen in our literature review is that telehealth is beneficial in many aspects of healthcare. Literature on telehealth readiness of long-term care facilities is lacking. Some key aspects to consider when assessing telehealth readiness of long-term care facilities based on our literature search are technological requirements and support, provider proficiency, financial readiness, organizational and workflow implementation, staff engagement and training and patient readiness. Some potential challenges in implementing telehealth particularly in long-term care facilities are financial and technological constraints, such as limited electronic medical record use, as well as limited digital proficiency in the older adult population.