Hospitals & Health Networks magazine recognized University of Utah Health Care as one of the nation's "most wired" institutions according to its 2014 Most Wired Survey released today.
The annual Health Care's Most Wired Survey measures a hospital's level of adoption of information technology (IT) relative to other hospitals and health systems. The survey data is distributed, collected and analyzed by Health Forum, an American Hospital Association company, which develops industry-standard benchmarks for IT adoption.
"This award is not just a goal, but a reflection of University of Utah Health Care's commitment to our patients and to the future," said Jim Turnbull, chief information officer at University of Utah Health Care.
This year marks the 16th anniversary of the Most Wired Survey. In that time, hospitals and health care systems have made great strides in establishing the basic building blocks of robust clinical information systems aimed at improving patient care. This process includes adopting technologies to improve patient documentation, advance clinical-decision support and evidence-based protocols, reduce the likelihood of medication errors, and rapidly restore access to data in the case of a disaster or outage.
"The reward is a reflection of the organization's adoption of IT and its use to drive operational, financial and clinical performance and outcomes," said Turnbull. "I am sincerely excited for the staff in the ITS division and for the leadership and teams across the organization who so clearly deserve this recognition."
The Most Wired Survey, conducted this year between January and March, asked hospital leaders nationwide to answer questions regarding their IT initiatives. Respondents completed 680 surveys, representing 1,900 hospitals, or roughly 30 percent of all hospitals in the U.S.
Approximately 67 percent of Most Wired hospitals share critical patient information electronically with specialists and other care providers. Most Wired hospitals, those that meet a set of rigorous criteria across four operational categories, have made tremendous gains by using IT to reduce the likelihood of medical errors. Among Most Wired hospitals, 81 percent of medications are matched to the patient, nurse and order via bar code technology at the bedside.
About University of Utah Health Care
University of Utah Health Care is the Intermountain West's only academic health care system, providing leading-edge and compassionate medicine for the people of Utah and a referral area encompassing five states and more than 10 percent of the continental United States. The health system includes four hospitals – University of Utah Hospital; the University of Utah Orthopaedic Center; University Neuropsychiatric Institute; and Huntsman Cancer Hospital – with more than 1,000 physicians offering more than 200 medical specialties.