Two major hospital rankings were released this month and for the most part show an upward trend toward healthcare IT adoption by the leading hospitals in the United States.
First, the 2011 Most Wired Survey, conducted by Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN) in cooperation with McKesson Corporation, HIT Exchange, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the American Hospital Association, asked hospitals and health systems nationwide to answer questions regarding their IT initiatives. H&HN said 530 surveys were completed that represented about 24 percent of all U.S. hospitals.
The results showed that overall, hospitals are devoting more effort to expanding and adopting certain kinds of IT, such as computerized physician order entry (CPOE), to improve patient care and data collection.
Among other key findings of this year's survey, as outlined by H&HN, include:
• Sixty-seven percent of Most Wired hospitals ordered medications electronically, in comparison to 46 percent of the total responders. Fifty-eight percent of all organizations reported that they have implemented computerized standing orders based on treatment protocols that have been scientifically proven to be effective; in the Most Wired group, 86 percent have implemented such standing orders.
• Most Wired hospitals are leading in the use of encryption on movable devices to safeguard information. All Most Wired hospitals encrypt data for laptops and 76 percent encrypt smartphones, in comparison to 85 percent of total responders that use encryption on laptops and 57 percent on smartphones.
Just last week, U.S. News & World Report released its list of 118 hospitals that it says are leaders when it comes to using electronic medical records and providing quality care.
According to the magazine’s website, U.S. News defined a hospital as Most Connected if that hospital, or a major unit of it such as a children's hospital within the larger institution, has met twin standards: achieving Stage 6 or 7 of EMR adoption [based on HIMSS Analytics criteria] and earning either a national Best Hospital or Best Children's Hospital ranking or a high-performing designation in one or more medical specialties.
So what do these rankings mean? I interpret the data as showing that healthcare IT in the United States is heading in the right direction, particularly in the institutional sector. The doctors and clinicians want the technology, IT managers are chomping at the bit to think about what future hospitals will look like and how technology can be used to improve patient care and administrators are looking to technology to help meet financial and care goals.
What do you think?
