Christiana Care Named One Of The Nation's 2016 Most Wired Hospitals

Christiana Care Health System has been named one of the Most Wired Hospitals in the United States by the American Hospital Association, underscoring the health system’s success at leveraging technology to drive value for the people it serves.

Christiana Care was one of only 363 hospital health systems selected as a 2016 Most Wired Hospital, based on results of the recent 18th Annual Health Care’s Most Wired Survey that examined which health systems are most adroit at improving the efficiency of care delivery through the use of technology. There are 5,627 hospitals in the United States.

"The award recognizes how we are leading the nation in the integration of care and technology to connect with the people we serve in new and very different ways to help them achieve optimal health," said Randy Gaboriault, MS, chief information officer and senior vice president of Innovation and Strategic Development at Christiana Care.

The survey spans nearly every facet of healthcare technology – from telemedicine to patient portals to social media to cybersecurity – to determine the most IT-robust health systems.

Through the use of technology, Christiana Care has improved the quality of care, increased access to care, improved the experience of patients, and even reduced costs. Initiatives include:

• Predictive Analytics: Christiana Care’s Care Link harnesses information technology that taps into all available sources of data from clinical activity to lab results to pharmaceutical use to unearth relevant predictive patterns and facts to improve individual care.
• Telemedicine: Christiana Care’s eCare is a virtual Intensive Care Unit that supports patients in emergency departments at Christiana and Wilmington hospitals, as well as in four ICUs. It provides the most seriously ill patients with an extra layer of safety as physicians and nurses who telemonitor patients collaborate with clinicians at the bedside. In just the past year, the interventions initiated by eCare staff saved as much as $9.74M.
• IT-Enabled Monitoring Systems: By integrating evidence-based guidelines on medication and telemetry use into Christiana Care’s health information technology systems and equipping nurses with supportive tools, more effective care was delivered through the use of cardiac telemetry, resulting in a 70 percent decrease in the cost for monitoring patients; a 47 percent decrease in the average duration of telemetry monitoring; and a 43 percent decrease in the number of telemetry orders. The initiative resulted in an estimated annual savings of $4.8M.
• Patient Experience: Christiana Care’s nationally-recognized iRound technology enables nurses to efficiently collect real-time data and respond immediately to patient needs and build relationships with admitted patients and their families.
• Cybersecurity: Christiana Care implements information security protection systems that are aligned with industry best practices, and continuously examines its information security measures to ensure that it both remains at the forefront of changing security risks and safeguards the clinical and personal information of patients.

HealthCare’s Most Wired survey, conducted between Jan. 15 and March 15 of this year, is published annually by Health & Hospitals Networks, a leading healthcare publication that chronicles the values and ideas that drive the new era in healthcare. The 2016 Most Wired survey and benchmarking study is considered a leading industry barometer measuring information technology use and adoption among hospitals nationwide. The survey of 680 participants represents an estimated 2,146 hospitals and examines how organizations are leveraging information technology to improve performance for value-based healthcare in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management, quality and safety, and clinical integration.

Christiana Care’s Most Wired Hospital accolade is the latest in a long list of IT recognitions, which include awards from the U.S. Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, Computerworld, InformationWeek 500, CIO 100, Premiere 100, Tech Impact, the Interactive Media Association, and many more.

About Christiana Care Health System
Christiana Care Health System is one of the country’s largest health care systems, ranking as the 21st leading hospital in the nation and 10th on the East Coast in terms of admissions. The health system includes The Medical Group of Christiana Care, a network of primary care physicians, medical and surgical specialists as well as home health care, preventive medicine, rehabilitation services and patient/family advisors for core health care services. A not-for-profit teaching hospital affiliated with Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Christiana Care is recognized as a regional center for excellence in cardiology, cancer and women's health services. Christiana Care has an extensive range of outpatient services, and through Christiana Care Quality Partners, Christiana Care works closely with its medical staff to achieve better health, better access to care and lower cost. Christiana Care is home to Delaware's only Level I trauma center, the highest capability center and the only one of its kind between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Christiana Care features a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, the only delivering hospital in Delaware that offers this highest level of care to the most critically ill newborns. Christiana Care includes two hospitals with 1,100 patient beds. For more information, visit www.christianacare.org/whoweare.