The Best Wired Hospitals of 2007
Ditching paper and automating processes won't automatically enable a hospital to cure what ails you, but it could help healthcare providers do their jobs more efficiently, accurately, and safely.
A healthy crop of the institutions that several days ago were ranked among America's Best Hospitals by U.S.News & World Report have also been recognized as some of the "100 Most Wired" by Hospitals & Health Networks, a publication of the American Hospital Association.
The double distinction earned by the hospitals listed below means they have some of the lowest mortality rates, the highest marks from peers, the ability to handle complex cases, excellence in nursing, and other characteristics of success, landing them a spot among America's Best Hospitals. They also proved a commitment to information technology by scoring well in a Hospitals & Health Networks survey including the following areas:
Safety and Quality: Minimizing medication errors through bar coding and electronic drug-dispensing devices; providing online access to the results of imaging tests such as MRIs and EKGs; using automated alerts to prevent drug interactions or identify critical vital sign values in real time.
Customer Service: Providing patients with online test results, prescription refills, appointment scheduling, and tracking of chronic conditions; offering in-hospital Internet or wireless access.
Public Health: Safeguarding medical information online; tracking trends in infections, conditions, and diseases; being able to rapidly restore clinical information in the event that a disaster causes data loss.
Business: Electronically managing inpatient beds; checking drug supply for expiration dates and product recalls.
Workforce: Enabling online training and continuing medical education; posting human resources information online.
- Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, Ill. *
- Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center, Milwaukee *
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston
- Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston *
- Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, N.C. *
- Central DuPage Hospital, Winfield, Ill.
- Clarian Health Partners, Indianapolis
- Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. *
- Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Evanston, Ill.
- Franklin Square Hospital Center, Baltimore *
- Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, D.C. *
- H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa
- Hackensack University Medical Center, N.J.
- Harper University Hospital, Detroit *
- Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.
- Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia *
- LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City *
- Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, Pa. *
- Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Ill.
- Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, Pittsburgh *
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston *
- McLean Hospital, Belmont, Mass. *
- Memorial Hermann TIRR, Houston *
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York
- MeritCare Hospital, Fargo, N.D. *
- Methodist Hospital, Houston *
- National Rehabilitation Hospital, Washington, D.C. *
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
- Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans
- Ohio State University Hospital, Columbus
- Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia *
- Presbyterian Hospital, Dallas *
- Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
- Sinai-Grace Hospital, Detroit *
- Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston *
- St. John's Mercy Medical Center, St. Louis *
- St. Luke's Hospital, Kansas City, Mo. *
- Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore *
- University of California, San Diego Medical Center
- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville
- Wake Forest Univ. Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, N.C.
- Washington Hospital Center, Washington, D.C. *
- Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conn.
* In a healthcare system named on the "100 Most Wired" list
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• Most Wired Hospitals Criteria 2007
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