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The American Hospital Association’s Hospitals & Health Networks magazine this week released its eighth annual Most Wired Survey, which identifies 100 U.S. hospitals and health systems that have adopted information technology to streamline business and clinical practices, improve patient outcomes, and decrease the occurrence of medical errors.
The survey assesses hospitals’ adoption and use of technology in five key areas: safety and quality, customer service, business processes, workforce, and public safety. According to the report, the 100 most wired facilities have improved quality, satisfaction, customer service, and patient care by investing in technology. Among the report’s findings are:
- 99% of the most wired hospitals provide digital radiology images in the inpatient setting, compared with 72% of least wired hospitals.
- 92% of medical records at the most wired hospitals are available digitally, compared with 61% of records at the least wired facilities.
- 36% of prescriptions at the most wired hospitals are processed with computer physician order entry systems, compared with 2% among the least wired hospitals.
- 49% of the most wired hospitals allow patients to pre-register for services including scheduling tests and physician appointments online.
- 32% of the most wired hospitals allow patients to view medical test results online.
- 22% of the most wired hospitals offer virtual physician visits.
- 64% of the most wired hospitals provide online health coaching for obesity, smoking cessation, and chronic disease management (Hospitals & Health Networks release, 7/10; Houston Business Chronicle, 7/10). To view the full report, please visit www.hhnmag.com.
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