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July 12, 2005 |
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Valley Health Makes Most Wired List
for Seventh Year
For the seventh
time in as many years, Valley Health has been
named one of the 100 Most Wired Hospitals and
Health Systems. Valley Health is one of only
nine organizations in the country to make the
list all seven times.
The Most Wired
Survey and Benchmarking Study, which is
conducted each year by the magazine
Hospitals and Health Networks,
asks hospitals
to report how they use information technology to
address five key areas: safety and quality;
customer service; business processes; workforce;
and public health and safety. More than 1,200
hospitals nationwide completed the survey, and
VH is one of only five health systems in
Virginia to make this year's list.
According to
Joan Roscoe, VH Vice President of Information
Systems and CIO, "being named Most Wired is not
just recognition for Information Systems. Every
staff member, physician and board member of
Valley Health has made a contribution to this
award," she continues. "The bottom line is our
commitment to patient safety, customer service,
public health and business processes; we all
strive to embrace technology to better serve our
patients in these areas."
Some of the initiates that
helped put Valley Health on this year's Most
Wired list include:
Wired for
Business
Lawson - gives VH ability to communicate electronically with
suppliers; in fact, VH orders nearly 100 percent
of its pharmaceuticals and med/surg supplies on
line.
Wired for
Safety and Quality
Physicians
Portal - a one-stop shop for physicians;
offers access to virtually all electronic
information on patients, including medical
history, nurses' notes, test results, x-rays and
images, and patient demographics.
CareManager -
allows nursing and clinical
staff to perform tasks electronically, including
nurses' notes, clinical pathways, and order
entry.
Wired for Customer Service
GetWell Network -
provides patient access to
the Internet as well as disease-specific
educational material at the bed side.
Wired for Workforce
Lawson -
allows a multitude of HR
functions to be performed electronically
Intranet -
electronic access to policies
and procedures, employee benefits, and
educational resources.
Wired for Public Health and
Safety
Security technologies -
use of
passwords, off-site backups, firewalls, and
proxcards (for limited access to restricted
areas)
Monitoring quality indicators
-
all three VH
hospitals measure and submit ongoing data to
JCAHO, CMS, and the state on compliance rates
and key evidence based practices related to
specific diseases.
This last point is of
particular interest to Cynthia Rowlinson, VH
Executive Director of Performance Improvement,
because it underscores the idea that Most Wired
hospitals not only need to have technology, but
be able to demonstrate how it's used to measure
and improve quality of care and clinical
outcomes. "It's encouraging to see that the Most
Wired award now considers both the ability to
collect data as well as how organizations use
it," she notes. "This was an important aspect of
our receiving the award again this year, and
validates Valley Health's ongoing commitment to
using technology to improve performance and
quality."
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