2022 International Conference on Aging in the Americas

Abstract

COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted our Latino and African American patient communities. UI Health, like most other health systems, had to rapidly deploy more intensive care unit (ICU) beds, COVID wards and telehealth solutions. It became immediately obvious that the digital divide within these communities was wider than within our white and Asian American patients. We set out to improve our data systems to better capture this digital divide and adjacent health disparities. With funding from a Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) grant and the ENGAGE-IL team at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), we mobilized our Home Visit Program to assist with technology deployment and adoption among our more vulnerable home bound patients. We piloted the use of easier cognitive screening instruments with the use of Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) within our Electronic Health Record (EHR). We are deploying multiple physical ‘Health Bar’ locations to assist with technology deployment, equipment configuration and general health technology assistance. We are looking forward to extending the work of our engineering colleagues at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and our clinical colleagues at the Mayo Clinic to predict Alzheimer’s disease earlier within our Latino community.