The Home Care Information Technology Council (HITC) includes nearly 30 leading technology companies offering products and services to the home care and hospice industries. Established in 1999, the Council's mission is to promote expanded use of information technology through education. Our goal is to help home care and hospice executives better understand how information technology can be utilized to improve operational performance and patient care.

The companies involved in HITC offer a wide array of technology-based products and services to home care and hospice providers. These include back office administrative and clinical systems, point-of-care data capture technologies, in-home telehealthcare devices, and benchmarking, consulting and outsourcing services.

As home care moves into the 21st century, executives, administrative staff and clinicians will all be challenged to deal with dramatic industry change and rapidly expanding use of technology. Prospective payment, HIPAA, an aging workforce and more than 30 million Baby Boomers will change home care forever. Over time, technology will touch virtually every aspect of operations, from routine record-keeping to coordinating and monitoring patient care.

Looking to the future, it is virtually impossible to develop a scenario that does not have home care and technology as central elements in the delivery of healthcare services. It is equally improbable to expect the population's growing healthcare needs will be addressed through traditional "bricks and mortar" investment. Increasingly, healthcare will be delivered in the home providing an ever-expanding array of services through investments in technology.

HITC's educational initiatives are all designed to help home care and hospice organizations succeed in this changing environment. Through our efforts we hope executives will gain a better understanding of the value of investing in information technology.

Since its inception, HITC has sponsored a variety of educational events. In conjunction with state and national associations we have conducted more than 100 technology-focused seminars and workshops throughout the US. Our services are offered to these groups at no cost. Slides from several of the more popular seminars can be found at Resources on this site.

We have also developed a variety of educational resources. These have included:

Home Care Technology Magazine: In 2002, we produced two issues of Home Care Technology magazine. More than 15,000 copies were distributed to home care and hospice providers throughout the country at no cost. Copies of selected articles can be found at Resources and success stories appear for a number of member companies.

HITC Resource Guide: We distributed more than 20,000 copies of HITC's Resource Guide during 2000 and 2001. These CDROM's included information on all member companies, presentation slides and more than 15,000 pages of valuable information downloaded from an array of Web sources. The Resource Guide was made available at no cost to state and national associations for distribution to their members.

Homecaretechnology.com: This web site is HITC's latest educational resource. Development has been sponsored by member companies and all of the site's resources are accessible to home care and hospice organizations at no cost.

Membership in HITC is open to any company offering technology-related products and services to home care and hospice providers. Members companies include software vendors, home telehealthcare companies, outsourcing organizations and consulting firms.

Companies participating in HITC pay an annual membership fee. This fee is the same for all members and is determined each year based on activities the Council intends to undertake. Funds contributed are used to sponsor events and pay for development of educational resources.

HITC contracts with Stony Hill Management to manage the Council's activities, organize events and develop educational resources. If you are interested in membership contact us at inquiry@homecaretechnology.com .