BACKGROUND: Electronic Health Record (EHR) data collected in nearreal-time will improve the timeliness, frequency, and completeness ofclinical information for the long-term care population.
OBJECTIVES: To characterize the current data compiled by the Long-Term Care (LTC) Data Cooperative, a provider-run effort collectingEHR data from multiple nursing homes across the United States.
METHODS: We described data from the 793 US-based nursing homeslocated across 28 states that joined the LTC Data Cooperative beforeMarch 31, 2022. This study population included residents admitted tofacilities on or after January 1, 2019, representing 293,605 short- andlong-stay individuals and 386,052 admissions. The EHR data com-prised an array of values that were associated with relevant time-stamps, recorded on a daily basis, or otherwise noted frequently.
RESULTS: The population was 59% female, 86% aged≥65 years, 82%White, and 15% Black or African American. Residents diagnosed withAlzheimer's Disease or Related Dementia comprised 31% of admis-sions. There were 220,300,150 medication administrations, 44% ofwhich were for residents with dementia. Vaccination records werepresent for 69% of residents in the dataset (n=202,060). COVID-19vaccine refusals were documented for 6% of residents (n=18,445) Compared to the standard MDS, assessments were recorded morefrequently in the EHR: 3.6 activities of daily living assessments perquarter (n=553 facilities), 4.0 Brief Interview for Mental Statusassessments per quarter (n=356 facilities), and 3.7 Patient HealthQuestionnaire-9 assessments per quarter (n=329 facilities). Temper-ature readings were documented a median of 2.0 observations perday for short stays and a median of 1.3 observations per day for longstays. Most facilities (755 of 793 facilities) documented bedside bloodglucose readings (median (short stay): 2.7 times/day; median (longstay): 1.0 times/day).
CONCLUSIONS: EHR data from long-term care facilities represent a richand comprehensive longitudinal data source for researchers to con-duct effectiveness and safety research and offer an efficient andeffective method for data collection for interventional research inlong-term care.
