News Feature | July 14, 2014

H&HN Release 2014's ‘Most Wired' Hospitals

Katie Wike

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Wired Hospitals

Hospitals & Health Networks has just released this year’s list of ‘most wired’ hospitals, which takes into account hospitals that use information technology to achieve optimum performance.

Hospitals & Health Networks has released its 16th annual “Most Wired” list for hospitals across the nation. The 2014 edition includes more than 680 hospitals and health systems that completed the survey, representing more than 1,900 hospitals — a total of more than 30 percent of all U.S. hospitals.

"The Most Wired data show that shared health information allows clinicians and patients to have the information they need to promote health and make the most informed decisions about treatments," said Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association.

"Hospitals, their clinicians and their communities are doing tremendous work to enhance their IT systems in ways that support care and delivery improvement, and patient engagement goals," he added.

According to Healthcare IT News, the survey found:

  • 36 percent of hospitals on the Most Wired list aggregate data from patient encounters to create a community health record.
  • 71 percent of them manage care transitions compared with 57 percent of all responding organizations.
  • 43 percent integrate clinical and claims data so they're accessible, searchable and reportable across the care community.
  • 69 percent use tools for retrospective analysis of clinical and administrative data to identify areas for improving the quality of care and reducing the cost of care delivered.

Also, the H&HN discovered 35 percent of Most Wired hospitals use social media to deliver care management messages and 40 percent provide mobile applications for secure messaging with patients.

"Hospital leaders should be commended for the hard work they've done under an unrealistic time frame," said CHIME CEO Russell P. Branzell in the AHA statement. "Still, there is a substantial amount of work ahead. Effective C-suites view IT adoption as a collaborative effort. They have a clear strategic plan and know how IT fits into that."

See last year’s results HERE