University Hospitals Achieves Stage 6 EMRAM
By Wendy Grafius, contributing writer
Health System lauded for demonstrating “significant advancement in information technology capabilities positioning the hospital to deliver highest quality patient care”
University Hospitals (UH) of Cleveland has been recognized by HIMSS Analytics for achieving Stage 6 on the EMR Adoption ModelSM (EMRAM). This represents a significant advancement in the integrated healthcare network’s IT capabilities, positioning it to deliver the highest quality patient care.
The EMR Adoption Model was developed in 2005 by HIMSS Analytics, a nonprofit subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), to evaluate the progress and impact of EMR systems for hospitals in its database. With the advanced electronic patient record environment of Stage 7 as the ultimate goal, hospitals can track their progress through eight stages (0-7) as they implement and utilize IT applications. Just 12.7 percent of the more than 5400 hospitals tracked by HIMSS Analytics had reached Stage 6 as of January 2014.
Through its achievement of Stage 6, UH demonstrates significant executive commitments and investments toward this end, appears to have a significant advantage over competitors in many areas, and is almost completely paperless in medical records. Other criteria include data evaluation for care delivery process improvements, recognition of improved patient care with EMR, creation of strategic alignments with medical staff, and provision of data to key stakeholders. “We are pleased that University Hospitals received this level of recognition from HIMSS,” said John Foley, CIO of UH. “The HIMSS Stage 6 designation demonstrates that we have achieved a significant advancement in our information technology capabilities that has positioned us to deliver the highest quality patient care.”
During the December 2013 audit, UH demonstrated IT capabilities to address transformations in the healthcare industry including meaningful use, claims attachments, pay for performance, and government quality reporting programs. “HIMSS Analytics congratulates University Hospitals for leading the way toward health IT adoption,” said John Hoyt, FACHE, FHIMSS, executive VP of HIMSS Analytics. “Stage 6 represents a level of sophistication that only 682 U.S. hospitals have reached to date.”
UH is the Northeast Ohio region’s largest integrated network of hospitals, outpatient centers, and primary care physicians serving residents of 16 counties. Its anchor facility, 1032-bed UH Case Medical Center, is the primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and is known for its prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence including cancer, pediatrics, women’s health, orthopaedics and spine, radiology and radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation, and human genetics. One of only 18 hospitals named to U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals 2013-2014 Honor Roll, the main campus also includes UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, UH MacDonald Women’s Hospital, and UH Seidman Cancer Center. Community hospitals are located in Beachwood (Ahuja), Bedford, Conneaut, Chardon (Geauga), Geneva, and eastern Cuyahoga County (Richmond) and are complemented with various outpatient health centers, outpatient surgery centers, emergency rooms, partner hospitals, and urgent care.
SOURCE: Newswise