Salt Lake City - A new study shows that Intermountain Healthcare is one of the nation's most tech-savvy healthcare organizations. The annual Hospitals & Health Networks Most Wired survey evaluates hospitals and healthcare systems for safety and quality, customer service, business processes, workforce, and public health and safety. This year, 556 hospitals and health systems completed the survey, representing 1,327 hospitals.
This is the ninth time in 10 years that Hospitals & Health Networks has ranked Intermountain among the nation's Most Wired organizations, recognizing its pioneering role in the development and advancement of health information technology. Intermountain has been developing computerized health records since the 1970s, and is currently working on a project with GE Healthcare to develop the next generation of electronic medical records.
For the past seven years, studies of the 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems show that, in general, organizations with advanced information technology have better outcomes.
Specifically, the study found that, "patients at top technology hospitals have a better overall assessment of their stay and specifically are more satisfied with the admissions process and the manner in which tests and treatments are handled."
"In a separate analysis, the nation's 100 Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems have better outcomes on a variety of quality measures, including risk-adjusted mortality rates," the article said. "Taken together, the patient satisfaction and quality indicator analyses provide the strongest evidence in the 10-year history of the Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study that information technology makes a difference in both the patient experience and the quality of care."
The 2008 Most Wired Survey is a joint project of Hospital & Health Networks, Accenture, McKesson Corp., the American Hospital Association, and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
For more information on the Hospitals & Health Networks Most Wired study go to: