Piedmont Hospital and Piedmont Fayette Hospital Named 2010 Most Wired

Monday, July 19, 2010

ATLANTA, Ga. (July 15, 2010)—Piedmont Hospital and Piedmont Fayette Hospital  are two of only four Georgia hospitals to be recognized as the nation’s MOST WIRED according to the results of the 2010 Most Wired Survey released in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine. This is Piedmont Hospital’s seventh consecutive year and Piedmont Fayette’s sixth consecutive year to receive the honor.

Hospitals understand the importance of health information technology (IT) and the benefits of its widespread adoption, yet as a field still face significant barriers to implementation according to a newly released survey of America's Most Wired hospitals and health systems.

“We are proud the Most Wired Survey has recognized Piedmont Hospital and Piedmont Fayette Hospital, two of only four in Georgia” said R. Timothy Stack, president and CEO of Piedmont Healthcare. “This recognition shows our dedication to quality and excellence in the use of information technology to improve patient care and safety.”

This year’s survey reveals continued progress for hospitals in patient safety initiatives:

• Fifty-one percent of medication orders were done electronically by physicians at Most Wired hospitals, up from 49 percent last year.
• Over half (55 percent) of Most Wired hospitals match medication orders at the bedside through bar-coding or radio-frequency identification, up from 49 percent in 2009 and 23 percent five years ago. 
• Additionally, Most Wired hospitals have made improvements when it comes to sharing information during care transitions.  For example, new medication lists are electronically delivered to caregivers and patients 94 percent of the time when a patient is transferred within the hospital, 98 percent at discharge, and 86 percent when transferred to another care setting.

“The survey results highlight that continued progress is being made, but the full potential of health IT has not been meet,” says Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association (AHA).  “Hospitals embrace health IT and recognize the many benefits it can provide to patients, but even Most Wired hospitals face barriers to adoption.  We have asked that the federal government stimulate greater adoption by making Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments more widely available to hospitals and physicians so more hospitals can move in this direction.”

The 2010 Most Wired Survey is redesigned this year to reflect two years of work with an advisory group to continually improve the Most Wired Survey.  The 2010 Most Wired Survey represents a new structure and methodology with an increased use of analytics and reporting.  The advisory group was comprised of leaders from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), chief information officers, Most Wired staff and vendors.  Additionally, the new methodology was made available to the entire CHIME membership for review and comment. 

Hospitals & Health Networks conducted the 2010 survey in cooperation with McKesson Corporation and CHIME.  The July H&HN cover story detailing results is available at www.hhnmag.com.