Beaumont Recognized Among 2013 ‘Most Wired’ Wospitals

Beaumont Health System has been named among the nation’s “Most Wired” hospitals, according to Health Care’s “Most Wired” 2013 survey released in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks, a publication of the American Hospital Association. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the survey.

Since the survey’s inception, hospitals and health care systems have made great strides in establishing the basic building blocks for creating clinical information systems aimed at improving patient care. The survey criteria includes adopting technologies to improve patient documentation, advance clinical decision support and evidence-based protocols; reducing the likelihood of medication errors and rapidly restoring access to data in the case of a disaster or outage.

Participating hospitals and health systems are assessed based on four areas of focus: infrastructure; business and administrative management; clinical quality and safety (inpatient/outpatient hospital); and clinical integration (ambulatory/physician/patient/community). Specific requirements are set in each of the four focus areas and organizations must meet all of them to achieve the “Most Wired” designation.

“Beaumont views information technology as a strategic asset that is a key enabler of our delivery of high quality, high-value health care,” says Subra Sripada, executive vice president and chief administrative and information officer, Beaumont Health System. “Being recognized yet again on the 2013 list affirms the hard work of our team and demonstrates Beaumont’s commitment to being a technology leader in the health care industry.

Among the key “Most Wired” survey findings this year include: 

• 69 percent of Most Wired hospitals report that medication orders are entered electronically by physicians. This represents a significant increase from 2004 results when only 27 percent of Most Wired hospitals answered yest to this question.
• 71 percent of Most Wired hospitals have an electronic disease registry to identify and manage gaps in care across a population.
• 66 percent of Most Wired hospitals share patient discharge data with affiliated hospitals and 37 percent of Most Wired hospitals do so with nonaffiliated hospitals.

 The 2013 Most Wired Survey also covered some new areas such as big data analytics and patient generated data. It found:

• 32 percent of Most Wired hospitals conduct controlled experiments or scenario-planning to make better management decisions.
• 41 percent of Most Wired hospitals provide a patient portal or Web-based solution for patient-generated data.

“This year’s Most Wired organizations exemplify progress through innovation,” says Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. “The hospital field can learn from these outstanding organizations ways that IT can help to improve efficiency.”

Health Care’s Most Wired Survey, conducted between Jan. 15 and March 15, asked hospitals and health systems nationwide to answer questions regarding their IT initiatives. Respondents completed 659 surveys, representing 1,713 hospitals, or roughly 30 percent of all U.S. hospitals.

The July H&HN cover story detailing results is available at www.hhnmag.com.

Source: Beaumont Health System