In the U.S. and Canada, 25 percent of the population will be over 65 by 2050. While people are living longer, it doesn’t mean they are living healthier. A National Institute of Aging (NIA) report says there are many public health challenges that need attention to support the aging population. As 50 percent of assisted living residents have three or more chronic conditions, it seems logical that those senior living centers with an electronic medical record (EMR) system are likely more efficient caring for patients than those facilities still managing care with paper. Additionally, considering how Assisted Living Centers and other Long-Term Care entities (nursing homes, continuing care retirement communities and home care) in the United States and Canada typically interact and collaborate with multiple members of the healthcare ecosystem –such as payers, affordable care organizations (ACOs), hospitals, hospices, pharmacies, and labs — it makes sense that hospitals may prefer to send patients to long-term care communities that can interface with the hospital care and discharge systems. In fact, having a robust electronic medical record (EMR) system that can provide complete information about residents, including allergies, conditions, medications, needs and preferences is being promoted as a benefit in some long-term care communities. Suddenly, a long-term care EMR is a marketing asset. One reason long-term and senior care facilities may have been slower to adopt an EMR for providing long term care is that they weren’t included in the financial incentives. But that has changed. Medicaid providers such as long-term care facilities in the U.S. now are eligible for federal and state funds that support long-term care EMR adoption and use. Creating a data management plan is important for every type of healthcare provider, and long-term care centers based in the United States, Canada and abroad need to have an actionable strategy that addresses the variety of data coming in, what needs to be retained and for how long, as well as how to best share information across the healthcare landscape. As your technology needs change and there are now legacy systems that still contain records that must be retained and accessed, it may make sense to review some lifecycle data management solutions, such as an EMR for long-term care. Many U.S. and Canadian-based healthcare companies are upgrading to newer systems and still have legacy systems that house data that must be retained. Rather than keeping old and costly EHR or ERP systems running just to meet record retention requirements, the long-term care provider can securely and centrally store multiple data sources with HealthData Archiver®. This easy-to-use storage solution is helpful for organizations that are upgrading or adding a new EMR go-forward system, in merger and acquisition mode with a need to consolidate systems – or those looking to reduce technical risk and IT labor burden. We help healthcare providers of all sizes throughout the United States and Canada. Our team decommissions out-of-production software by extracting, migrating and archiving historical patient, employee and business records into an accessible, usable, secure and compliant active archive. We have worked with more than 500 unique clinical, financial and administrative software brands with award-winning results. Long-term care centers benefit from the ability to access all available data regardless from where it may have originated. Connecting senior living care providers is the future of what is needed to support this important demographic. And, the benefits of having true interoperability, care coordination and insightful data analytics allows seamless delivery of an outstanding patient (and clinician) experience. Harmony Healthcare IT has been consistently ranked as the #1 data extraction, migration, and archival healthcare IT company according to Black Book™ Market Research for three years (2019-2021) as well as ranked #1 in the 2020 Best in KLAS Software & Services Report as a Category Leader in Data Archiving. We help U.S. and Canadian-based healthcare providers reach a better-connected health information system. Isn’t it time to organize your health data and offer clinicians a single-sign-on to maintain ongoing access to the complete patient record? You have a lot to do and there’s no room for errors. We can help. Our mission is to preserve vital information to improve lives. Connect with our team. Note: This blog has been updated from an original post on Nov. 6, 2018.