CHOC Children’s Hospital has been named a “2015 Most Wired Hospital,” based on results of the 17th annual HealthCare’s Most Wired™ Survey by the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). Considered a leading industry barometer measuring information technology (IT) use and adoption among hospitals nationwide, the survey examined how more than 2,213 organizations are leveraging IT to improve performance for value-based healthcare in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management, quality and safety, and clinical integration.
According to the survey, hospitals are taking more aggressive privacy and security measures to protect patient data. Top growth areas in security among this year’s Most Wired organizations include privacy audit systems, provisioning systems, data loss prevention, single sign-on and identity management. The survey also found:
• 96 percent of Most Wired organizations use intrusion detection systems. Privacy audit systems (94 percent) and security incident event management (93) are also widely used.
• 79 percent of Most Wired organizations conduct incident response exercises or table top tests annually, a high-level estimate of the current potential for success of a cybersecurity incident response plan.
• 83 percent of Most Wired organizations report that hospital board oversight of risk management and reduction includes cybersecurity risk.
“We commend and congratulate this year’s Most Wired hospitals and their chief information officers for improving care delivery and outcomes in our nation’s hospitals through their creative and revolutionary use of technology,” said CHIME CEO and President Russell P. Branzell, FCHIME, CHCIO. “These Most Wired organizations represent excellence in IT leadership on the frontlines of healthcare transformation.”
The survey also highlighted how Most Wired hospitals are using IT to better facilitate information exchange across the care settings. This includes greater alignment between hospitals and physicians, for which the physician portal is a key factor:
• In 84 percent of Most Wired organizations, physicians can view and exchange other facilities’ results in the portal compared to 63 percent of the hospitals surveyed.
• 76 percent use the portal and electronic health record (EHR) to exchange results with other EHRs and health information exchanges compared to 56 percent of those surveyed.
• 81 percent can communicate with patients via email or alerts in contrast to 63 percent of all respondents.
This year’s Most Wired hospitals are utilizing the benefits of a patient portal to get patients actively involved in managing their health. For example, 89 percent of Most Wired hospitals offer access to the patient portal through a mobile application. Other findings include:
• 67 percent of Most Wired hospitals offer the ability to incorporate patient-generated data.
• 63 percent offer self-management tools for chronic conditions.
• 60 percent offer patient-specific education in multiple languages.
“Congratulations to our nation’s Most Wired hospitals for harnessing the potential of information technology to improve quality care and patient safety, and lower health care costs,” said Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO, American Hospital Association. “At the forefront of the field, these hospitals are setting the bar for protection of patient data through discerning security measures.”
American Hospital Association: Founded in 1898, the American Hospital Association (AHA) is a national organization serving all types of hospitals, health care networks, and their patients and communities (nearly 5,000 organizations and 43,000 individuals). A strategic business enterprise of AHA, the Health Forum develops and delivers essential information and innovative services to help health care leaders achieve organizational performance excellence and sustainability.
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME): With more than 1,500 chief information officers and over 150 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling industry leaders to collaborate, exchange best practices, and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the delivery of healthcare in their communities.
