Kish Hospital Among Nation’s “Most Wired”

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Kish Hospital is among the nation’s Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems according to Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN).

DeKalb, IL (PRWEB) July 16, 2012

Kish Hospital is among the nation’s Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems according to Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN). For the 14th year, H&HN has named the Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems based on the Most Wired Survey. This year, 662 hospitals and health systems completed the survey, representing 1,570 hospitals, roughly 27 percent of all U.S. hospitals. Even with additional requirements developed since 2010, the number of hospitals and health systems designated as Most Wired increased to 215 organizations. H&HN uses the same criteria to name the 25 Most Improved and the 25 Most Wired - Small and Rural, the group Kish Hospital is included in.

Heath Bell, KishHealth Chief Information Officer, VP, Revenue Cycle, said, “Winning the Most Wired 2012 award provides Kish Hospital with national recognition for our efforts in information technology. With the support of the Board of Directors and the hard work of both the Information Systems staff, as well as all the users, we have reached the level of technology adoption that is considered among the best in the country. This sets the stage for us to achieve our meaningful use targets and to improve the delivery of care to our patients.” Meaningful use, refers to the use of electronic health records and related technology within a healthcare organization. Achieving meaningful use also helps determine whether an organization will receive payments from the federal government under either the Medicare EHR Incentive Program or the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. Heath continued, “I am extremely proud of the support provided to Information Systems by the health system and the recognition of those efforts through the receipt of this award.”

If any of the requirements in each of four focus areas are not met, the organization does not achieve the Most Wired designation. Thus, an organization may have many advanced capabilities, yet not achieve Most Wired status. The four focus areas are:

Infrastructure

•     Identity management, access controls and audit capabilities
•     Data recovery plan testing and disaster recovery restoration capabilities within 72 hours
•     Security technology safeguards, including encryption for laptops
•     Regular risk analysis, security assessments and penetration testing
•     Wireless networks for clinical applications, accessible by clinicians and staff

Business and Administrative Management

•     Expanded use of electronic payer transactions
•     Automation of revenue-cycle processes
•     Partially automated management systems for supply chain and use of bar code technology
•     Patient flow automation
•     Human resource management and training systems
•     Enterprise decision support and business intelligence

Clinical Quality and Safety (inpatient/outpatient hospital)

•     Patient demographics, vital signs and status, and documentation recorded as structured data
•     Routine use of electronic health record and clinical information systems by nurses, pharmacists and physicians
•     Physician access to clinical pathways/order sets and medical image review across care settings
•     Clinical decision support enabled for drug allergy alerts and drug interaction alerts
•     Digital clinical imaging/PACS in hospital and clinic
•     CPOE for medication orders
•     Point-of-care medication administration systems and automated medication management
•     Electronic recording of quality data
•     Electronic recording of infection control data

Clinical Integration (ambulatory/physician/patient/community)

•     Physician-office EMR connectivity for clinical documentation and viewing results
•     Physician office e-prescribing
•     Online health information for patient education
•     Interoperability of applications within hospital

The 2012 Most Wired Survey was made possible by the generous support of McKesson, AT&T, CareTech Solutions and in cooperation with CHIME, the AHA and H&HN. For the full article and list of 2012 Most Wired, visit http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag_app/jsp/currentissue.jsp.

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