HEALTH One Global  Ltd Successful in a AHRQ Grant Proposal

Health One Global is proud to announce that with Special Olympics and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) we have been successful in a proposal for a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).  http://www.ahrq.gov/

AHRQ is the lead Federal agency charged with improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.  Getting any AHRQ grant is prestigious and our joint proposal was awarded AHRQ's top rating. 

UIC is one of the world's leading authorities on the health of people with disabilities.
 
The $200,000 grant was awarded to take further the pilot Athlete Personal Health Record Health One Global developed for Special Olympics and launched in Wisconsin in December 2009.

Adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) face enormous obstacles in receiving health care and navigating the health care system and gaining the kind of basic health care that many of us take for granted.  The resultant poor continuity of care can lead to excess rates of morbidity in persons with ID.

Given their complex health needs and the extreme fragmentation of care faced by individuals with ID, additional intervention is necessary to improve continuity of care and the sharing of health information. Electronic Personal Health Records (PHRs) hold promise in helping reshape health care by shifting the ownership and locus of health records from being scattered across multiple providers to being longitudinal, patient-centred and patient-held.

However, there are currently no established Internet-based PHRs available that meet the needs of this vulnerable population.  To address this problem the AHRQ grant will enable us to extend further and test our Special Olympics Athlete Personal Health Record specifically to meet the needs of persons with ID.

The study team includes the Health One Global as developers of the Athlete Personal Health Record, as well as quality improvement and medical informatics experts, and health services and intervention researchers.

Findings from the study will be disseminated via national and state consumer and provider organizations serving adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities.

Developing a personal health record for people with ID has the potential to help improve the quality of care received in a manner that is highly consistent with these individuals' values and priorities. The relative low cost and ease of dissemination of the PHR will increase the public health impact on state and local agencies responsible for the health care of adults with ID.