UCSD Health System's hospitals and facilities ranked among 'Health Care's Most Wired'

University of California, San Diego Health System's hospitals and facilities are among "Health Care's Most Wired," according to the 14th annual survey conducted by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.

Hospitals and Health Networks highlights top-ranking hospitals that are evaluated by how they use information technology in five areas: business processes, customer service, safety and quality, workforce, and public health and safety.

"This is our seventh year in a row on this list, which demonstrates UC San Diego Health System's dedication to information technology expansion," said Ed Babakanian, chief information officer, UC San Diego Health Sciences. "Our primary goal is always to provide excellent patient care - from access to online medical information to improved patient outcomes - and UC San Diego Health System fully supports our efforts to provide that by staying ahead of the IT curve."

Almost half of the Most Wired hospitals, including UC San Diego Health System, reported using social media for community outreach and crisis communication. More than 25 percent of the Most Wired hospitals offer care management messages and chats with physicians, such as UC San Diego's "MyChart" online messaging program.

Additionally, last year, UC San Diego Health System achieved HIMSS Stage 7 status, which represents the pinnacle of an environment where paper charts are no longer used to deliver patient care. UC San Diego Health System is one of only 58 hospitals - 1.1 percent, of the more than 5,000 hospitals in the database - to be recognized by HIMSS Analytics with its Stage 7 Award.

Additional key findings show that:

100 percent of Most Wired hospitals check drug interactions and drug allergies when medications are ordered as a major step in reducing medication errors
93 percent of Most Wired hospitals employ intrusion detection systems to protect patient privacy and security of patient data, in comparison to 77 percent of the total respondents
74 percent of Most Wired hospitals use automated patient flow systems
90 percent of Most Wired hospitals use performance improvement scorecards to help reduce inefficiencies