AnMed Health one of most wired

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AnMed Health has been recognized as one of the nation’s Most Wired hospitals and health systems, according to the 2014 Most Wired Survey. The survey results were released in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine. The Most Wired hospitals are better positioned to improve patient care and safety, according to the American Hospital Association.

“The Most Wired data show that shared health information allows clinicians and patients to have the information they need to promote health and make the most informed decisions about treatments,” says Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. “Hospitals, their clinicians and their communities are doing tremendous work to enhance their IT systems in ways that support care and delivery improvement, and patient engagement goals.”

At AnMed Health, information technology is an integral part of providing care. Patient medical records have been electronic since 2000, and AnMed Health was the first in the state to implement PACS, a picture archiving and communication system that gives doctors and clinicians instant and remote access to radiology images.

AnMed Health has also introduced speech recognition software that transforms dictated reports into electronic text, allowing radiologists to produce more accurate reports quickly and easily. Today, physicians routinely use a computer-based portal to view clinical data such as laboratory results, medications, vitals, radiology and cardiology results and images, and nursing documentation.

AnMed Health patients have secure online access to their hospital-based inpatient and outpatients health information through My.AnMedHealth, a patient portal that allows patients to view laboratory, radiology and cardiology test results, and to view and update their medication and allergy lists.

Over the last four years, AnMed Health has implemented a network-wide electronic health records (EHR) system in the physician practices. Now, nearly every AnMed Health practice utilizes the same enterprise-wide EHR, and patient charts are shared among primary care and specialty providers. Shared clinical data reduces redundancies in the health care system and provides better patient safety. Patients of the physician network can also access their information via the My.AnMedHealth portal and interact with their physician offices to request appointments, request prescription refills and ask general medical questions.

Physicians at AnMed Health use a computerized physician order entry system (CPOE), which sends doctors’ orders directly to caregivers and departments without handwriting and legibility issues. On nursing units, nurses scan barcodes to ensure patients receive the right medicine in the right dose at the right time, and the perinatal care system allows caregivers to electronically document and store maternal vital signs and fetal tracings in obstetrical patients.

“Information technology is a core part of our mission because it allows us to make significant improvements in patient safety,” said Bill Manson, president and chief operating officer of AnMed Health. “The federal government placed significant incentives on hospitals to adopt electronic health records. Meeting the first deadline was a huge challenge for the entire industry, but at AnMed Health, we delivered. I’m pleased with how far we’ve come and with where we’re going with electronic records.”

The H&HN cover story detailing results is available at www.hhnmag.com.