Saint Luke’s Health System named among 2013 Most Wired Hospitals for demonstrating progress through innovation
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Saint Luke’s Health System has been recognized as one of the nation’s Most Wired, according to the results of the 2013 Most Wired Survey released today in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine. It is the 12th time the health system has been recognized on the list for information technology excellence – more than any other hospital or health system in Missouri or Kansas.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of Health Care’s Most Wired Survey. In that time, hospitals and health care systems have made great strides in establishing the basic building blocks for creating robust clinical information systems aimed at improving patient care. This includes adopting technologies to improve patient documentation, advance clinical decision support and evidence-based protocols, reduce the likelihood of medication errors, and rapidly restore access to data in the case of a disaster or outage.
“Inclusion on the Most Wired list is acknowledgment of Saint Luke’s Health System’s success in achieving stage 1 meaningful adoption of health care information technology,” said Debe Gash, vice president, chief information officer, Saint Luke’s Health System. “The ongoing leadership and support of our board and executives has been critical to our success.”
Saint Luke’s Health System is a respected leader in information technology, known for its innovative strategies to improve quality and access to care.
In the past year, Saint Luke’s deployed an electronic health record system meeting stage 1 requirements for meaningful use of health care information technology—important because it offers specific safeguards. “It protects the confidentiality of patient information, makes sure the data is secure, provides a standard way of entering information so it can be shared between hospital and doctors, and ensures a consistent way of recording data,” said Gash. “The benefits of using an electronic medical record in a meaningful way include error reduction, better patient engagement in the care process, and access to information when needed.”
Physicians in the ambulatory environment use technology to monitor patients’ health, share information with patients electronically, and document health records. The health system has developed standing evidence-based order sets for use in all hospital units and leveraged technology to improve access to health care services using tele-health capabilities.
Among some of the key findings in the Most Wired Survey this year:
• Sixty-nine percent of Most Wired hospitals and 60 percent of all surveyed 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 and 12 percent of all hospitals responded, “Yes.”
• Seventy-one percent of Most Wired hospitals have an electronic disease registry to identify and manage gaps in care across a population compared with 51 percent of total responders.
• Sixty-six percent of Most Wired hospitals share patient discharge data with affiliated hospitals, in comparison to 49 percent of the total responders. Thirty-seven percent of Most Wired hospitals do so with non-affiliated hospitals versus 24 percent of total responders.
The 2013 Most Wired Survey also covered some new areas such as big data analytics and patient generated data. An emerging practice, big data analytics looks at large amounts of data to uncover patterns and correlations.
• Thirty-two percent of Most Wired hospitals conduct controlled experiments or scenario-planning to make better management decisions.
• Forty-one percent of Most Wired hospitals provide a patient portal or Web-based solution for patient-generated data.
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.
About the Most Wired Survey
The 2013 Most Wired Survey is conducted in cooperation with McKesson Corp., AT&T, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, and the American Hospital Association.