Technological.
Use of health information technology, especially at the point of care, is often considered as a way to improve care coordination and quality. Mobile technology, such as tablet computers represents an opportunity to gather information at the point of care. If the hospice agency also has an electronic health record for the patient, any information collected at the point of care through mobile technology has the potential to be integrated into the electronic health record, making the information available across provider locations. Having this information visible across all locations of care supports timely decision making and documentation.
In 2007, 28% of home health and hospice care agencies adopted both electronic health records and mobile technology, while slightly over half (54%) have adopted neither. Estimates are based on data from the 2007 National Home and Hospice Care Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
Computerized physician/provider order entry is defined as the computer system that allows direct entry of medical orders by the person with the licensure and privileges to do so. Directly entering orders into a computer has the benefit of reducing errors by minimizing the ambiguity of hand-written orders. A new report, supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, demonstrates that processing prescriptions through computerized provider order entry can cut drug errors in half, and could avoid more than 17 million adverse incidents annually.

The researchers then combined this information with data on CPOE adoption and the volume of annual medication orders. The results estimated the reduction in drug errors for one year – and found that more widespread use of computerized entry could have a big impact on drug errors.
According to the Institute of Medicine hospitalized patients are subject to at least one medication error per day, on average, the study notes. At least a quarter of medication-related injuries are preventable, however, and an electronic order entry system can help reduce errors from poor handwriting or incorrect transcription. CPOE functionalities such as dosage support, adverse interaction alerts and clinical decision support can also help reduce errors.
Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) is one of several features that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) view as crucial to improving healthcare delivery. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that CPOE adoption is a core requirement of meaningful use. The EHR Incentive Programs, run through Medicare and Medicaid, provide payments to eligible professionals eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAH) for demonstrating successful adoption, upgrading, implementation, and/or meaningful use of certified EHR technology.
The Medicare EHR Incentive Program provides up to $44,000 to eligible professionals who qualify, and the Medicaid program provides up to $63,750. Providers must demonstrate “Meaningful Use” in order to receive a financial award. The EHR incentive programs are designed to improve quality of care, increase efficiency, and decrease the cost of healthcare through the use of health information technology.
Beginning in 2015, Medicare eligible professionals who do not successfully demonstrate meaningful use will be subject to a payment adjustment. The payment reduction starts at 1% and increases each year that a Medicare eligible professional does not demonstrate meaningful use, to a maximum of 5%.

Environment.
Florida's nickname is the "Sunshine State", but severe weather is a common occurrence in the state. Hurricanes pose a severe threat during hurricane season, which lasts from June 1 to November 30, although some storms have been known to form out of season. Florida is the most hurricane-prone state, with