Abstracto

Would mHealth be a Solution to Rehospitalization? Alice

Hong Tao, Susan McRoy, Carol Hall Ellenbecker, Lin Wang

For patients receiving home health care services, it has been wellestablished that social environmental factors can increase the risk of rehospitalization, particularly when an informal caregiver is providing most of the care. However, universal access to more formal caregiving is unlikely, given the numerous economic and political barriers. As an alternative, one must consider increasing the use of mHealth technology to enhance the skills of informal caregivers and to improve the communication between home and clinical care. Here we discuss what our recent findings suggest would be most beneficial and what potential barriers must be addressed.