Kaiser Permanente wins 2015 CIO 100 Award for using health IT to improve quality and care delivery

Kaiser Permanente recently was honored by IDG's CIO magazine as one of the 2015 CIO 100 award winners for using technology to improve the health care experience for patients and their families.

The health care organization was recognized for two new technologies:

• Interactive Patient Care System: Enables hospitalized patients to take control of their environment using the television in their rooms. Patients can order meals at their leisure, watch educational videos or on-demand movies, browse the Internet, prepare for discharge and more. The system improves patient satisfaction and is associated with reduced readmissions.
• Real Time Location System: The robust RFID (radio frequency identification) technology enables care providers to track and quickly locate more than 140,000 moveable devices and equipment used in hospitals and medical offices — from wheelchairs to sonogram machines — saving them valuable time that they can spend with patients.

"We work hard every day to keep our members healthy, but if you visit our offices or need to be admitted into the hospital, we want you to have the best experience possible," said Dick Daniels, executive vice president and chief information officer, Kaiser Permanente. "These innovations enable patients to take a more active role in their care and give our clinicians more time to focus on our patients."

Kaiser Permanente is widely recognized for its leadership in harnessing health IT to improve quality and care delivery. Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect®, the health care organization's electronic health record, is one of the most robust and sophisticated systems in the nation. It securely connects more than 10 million people to their health care teams and their personal health information — taking advantage of Kaiser Permanente's integrated approach to health care.

Kaiser Permanente's patient portal, My Health Manager on kp.org, is directly connected to KP HealthConnect. By providing members with 24/7 online access to their health information and critical, time-saving tools, such as online appointment scheduling, prescription refill and secure email messaging with doctors, Kaiser Permanente empowers members to manage their health care and the health care of their family members.

More than 4.9 million members are registered for My Health Manager on kp.org. In 2014 alone, members:

• Sent 20 million emails to physicians and other care providers
• Viewed 37.4 million test results online
• Refilled 17.5 million prescriptions online
• Scheduled 4.2 million appointments online

"For 28 years now, the CIO 100 awards have honored the innovative use of technology to deliver genuine business value," said Maryfran Johnson, editor in chief of CIO magazine & events. "Our 2015 winners are an outstanding example of the transformative power of IT to drive everything from revenue growth to competitive advantage."

Kaiser Permanente will be recognized at The CIO 100 Symposium & Awards Ceremony on August 11 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.