Knowledge activation for patient centered care: Bridging the health information technology divide

The provision of healthcare is a collaborative process. It follows evidence based treatments which are becoming increasingly data driven and focusing on the best clinical outcomes. Patient centered care requires participation of patients in the decision making of the best treatment options. Healthcare provision requires both evidence based and patient centered care. In practice, these two perspectives conflict with each other due to the use of an information technology designed primarily for billing purposes. Using the knowledge activation framework developed by Qureshi and Keen [25], we analyze data from two hospitals in the Midwest that aim to achieve quality of care outcomes mandated by the Affordable Care Act. Following a grounded theory analysis of the focus group sessions we discover knowledge activation processes that may help overcome the divide between patient and evidence based care.