Stanford Hospital & Clinics recognized as one of nation's most wired hospitals

Stanford Hospital & Clinics has again been recognized as one of the nation's "most wired" hospitals and health systems by Hospitals & Health Networks, a trade magazine published by the American Hospital Association. Stanford Hospital & Clinics is one of only 13 systems in California and among 289 nationwide to receive the honor.

“Stanford was one of the first four hospitals in the nation to achieve 'HIMSS Stage 7' designation, the highest possible distinction in electronic medical records implementation, and we are continually seeking ways to build on our track record of improving the care experience for patients, physicians and staff.”

Stanford Hospital & Clinics' recognition is based on achievements in four key areas: IT infrastructure; automated and electronic approaches to business and administrative management; clinical quality and safety; and clinical integration.

"Stanford Hospital & Clinics has long been a leader in using technology to help transform the delivery of health care," said Pravene Nath, MD, chief information officer at Stanford Hospital & Clinics. "Stanford was one of the first four hospitals in the nation to achieve 'HIMSS Stage 7' designation, the highest possible distinction in electronic medical records implementation, and we are continually seeking ways to build on our track record of improving the care experience for patients, physicians and staff."

This year marks the 15th anniversary of Hospitals & Health Networks' Most Wired Survey. In that time, hospitals and healthcare systems have made great strides in establishing the basic building blocks for creating robust clinical information systems aimed at improving patient care. This 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.

"This year's Most Wired organizations exemplify progress through innovation," said Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. "The hospital field can learn from these outstanding organizations ways that IT can help to improve efficiency."

Among some of the key findings this year:

• Sixty-nine percent of Most Wired hospitals and 60 percent of all surveyed hospitals report that medication orders are entered electronically by physicians. This represents a significant increase from 2004 results when only 27 percent of Most Wired hospitals and 12 percent of all hospitals responded, "Yes."
• Seventy-one percent of Most Wired hospitals have an electronic disease registry to identify and manage gaps in care across a population compared with 51 percent of total responders.
• Sixty-six percent of Most Wired hospitals share patient discharge data with affiliated hospitals, in comparison to 49 percent of the total responders. Thirty-seven percent of Most Wired hospitals do so with non-affiliated hospitals versus 24 percent of total responders.

Health Care's Most Wired Survey, conducted between January 15 and March 15, asked hospitals and health systems nationwide to answer questions regarding their IT initiatives. Respondents completed 659 surveys, representing 1,713 hospitals, or roughly 30 percent of all U.S. hospitals.