Three hospitals in the Carle Health system achieved the national ranking for using technology to manage health information and patient care.
College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) recognizes Carle Foundation Hospital, Carle Hoopeston Regional Health Center and Carle Richland Memorial as among the nation’s Most Wired® Certified Level 7.
“Digital technology has been a driver of innovation in healthcare for many years now, but never to the degree that we saw in 2020 with the pandemic,” CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell said. “The Digital Health Most Wired program underscores why healthcare organizations keep pushing themselves to be digital leaders and shows what amazing feats they can achieve. This certification recognizes their exemplary performance in 2020.”
Most Wired acknowledged the three Carle hospitals as certified Level 7, a level that reflects an organization’s overall performance, with 10 as the highest. Carle joins only 336 hospitals to receive additional recognition for our efforts. Level 7-8 organizations deploy technologies and strategies to help analyze data and achieve meaningful clinical and efficiency outcomes.
A total of 30,091 organizations were represented in the 2020 Digital Health Most Wired program, which this year included four separate surveys: domestic, ambulatory, long-term care and international. The surveys assessed the adoption, integration and impact of technologies in healthcare organizations at all stages of development, from early development to industry leading.
“We deploy leading technologies to show improved outcomes, quality of care, patient experiences, reduced costs and improved patient access,” Rick Rinehart, vice president, Information Technology, and chief information officer, said.
Mike Sutter, Information Technology Epic consultant said the recent implementation to integrate technology to initiate IV pumps in the hospital serves as a shining example of improved patient care.
“As an example, Carle has implemented full IV-EMR interoperability between Intensive Care Unit (ICU) medical infusion pumps and Epic’s EMR. Only a small percentage of hospitals have implemented two-way smart pump EMR integration. Manual intervention of entering in required order information has room for error. The bi-directional integration substantially mitigates that room for error leading to improve patient safety,” he said.
Another enhancement is expanded ability to for physicians to get information in real time via mobile devices like a cell phone or tablet.
“Our workforce is mobile. They need reliable and secure tools to see test results faster and to notify staff of critical lab results that require immediate action,” Sutter said.
Rinehart said many of these advances balance the need for fast, accurate access to medical information with the need for top-notch security measures.
“We simply cannot compromise the need for newer technologies at the expense of patient privacy,” Sutter, said. “Most Wired also measures how well we protect health information. Just like with old-
school paper and pencil, we have to be sure we build in safeguards to ensure the right person receives the right information about the right patient at the right time.”
Carle’s information technology infrastructure, supply management systems, electronic medical record (EMR) and a robust reporting structure all play a significant role in this achievement.
“This is truly a team effort with everyone playing a part in this achievement,” Rinehart said. “Even with continual technological advancement, healthcare remains a very personal profession. It is the personal touch and attention to each patient’s needs that distinguishes our organization.”
Categories: Culture of Quality
Tags: BroMenn, Champaign-Urbana, Olney, Quality, Richland, Technology