The annual Hospitals & Health Networks' Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study asks hospitals to report on their use of IT in five key areas: business processes, customer service, safety and quality, workforce and public health and safety. The following activities are evaluated for naming hospitals and health systems to the list.
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Business Processes
Automate the supply chain
Automate patient eligibility and financial transactions with insurance companies and other payers
Automate the business office and financial operations
Customer Service
Improve the efficiency of administrative services to patients such as pre-registration
Assist patients in researching and tracking their own conditions
Provide the general public with health information and resources to improve their health
Safety and Quality
Reduce errors in prescribing and ordering medications
Reduce errors in the administration of medications
Improve clinical decision making by providing physicians and clinicians with access to electronic health record for their patients
Improve clinical decision making by providing real-time clinical alerts to assist physicians and other clinicians at the point of care
Reduce adverse events by electronically monitoring patients and using surveillance systems to alert physicians and other clinicians about changes in a patient's condition
Workforce
Assist in the recruitment, selection and training of qualified personnel
Provide extensive training and support to physicians and other clinicians on information systems
Use workforce management tools to ensure adequate staffing and measure staff performance
Public Health & Safety
Deploy a wide range of security technologies to safeguard confidential patient information
Conduct pilot programs or offer patients some form of a web-based personal health record
Participate in local, regional, and national cooperatives to share health information
Use evidence-based standards to monitor and improve the hospital's performance on specific clinical practices
Source: Hospitals & Health Networks' Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study
