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Community Health Network named 2013 Most Wired; Nation's Most Wired hospitals demonstrate progress through innovation

For release on July 10, 2013

Indianapolis, IN---Community Health Network ranks among the nation’s Most Wired health systems in the nation, according to results of the 2013 Most Wired Survey, an industry standard benchmark study released this week in the July issue of Hospitals and Health Networks magazine. The survey measures the level of IT adoption in U.S. hospitals and health systems. This marks the 15th anniversary of the survey, during which time health systems have made great strides to improve patient documentation, advance clinical decision support and evidence-based protocols, reduce the likelihood of medication errors, and rapidly restore access to data in the case of a disaster outage. Community, a 13-time recipient of the award, will receive recognition during an awards ceremony July 25-27 in San Diego, at the Health Forum and American Hospital Association Leadership Summit.

 “Community Health Network stands proud to receive the Most Wired award again this year,” said Tim Hobbs, M.D., chief physician executive at the network. “We are focused on continuously improving patient care at all levels, including through our IT infrastructure, to deliver an exceptional experience within our healthcare system.”

“This year’s Most Wired organizations exemplify progress through innovation,” said Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. “The hospital field can learn from these outstanding organizations ways that IT can help to improve efficiency.”

 Among some of the key findings this year:

  • 69% of Most Wired hospitals and 60% of all surveyed hospitals report that medication orders are entered electronically by physicians. This represents a significant increase from 2004 results when only 27% of Most Wired hospitals and 12% of all hospitals responded, “Yes.”
  • 71% of Most Wired hospitals have an electronic disease registry to identify and manage gaps in care across a population, compared with 51% of total responders.
  • 66% of Most Wired hospitals share patient discharge data with affiliated hospitals, in comparison to 49% of the total responders. 37% of Most Wired hospitals do so with non-affiliated hospitals, versus 24% of total responders.

“The concept of health information exchange is absolutely correct,” said Russell P. Branzell, president and CEO of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. “We need to do it and do it in a robust, refined way. The answer here is standards, standards, standards. We need to standardize the entire process, which we’ve done in almost every other business sector.”

The 2013 Most Wired Survey also covered some new areas, such as big data analytics and patient- generated data. An emerging practice, big data analytics, looks at large amounts of data to uncover patterns and correlations.

  • 32% of Most Wired hospitals conduct controlled experiments or scenario-planning to make better management decisions.

“Meaningful use has been a top priority for CIOs and hospital executives, but understanding all of the data will be critical as new relationships continue to evolve,” said Rose Higgins, vice president, strategic solutions, RelayHealth, McKesson’s connectivity business unit. “Data analytics will be essential to helping hospitals balance quality of care and cost requirements in a new environment of risk-based reimbursement and evidence-based medicine.”

  • 41% of Most Wired hospitals provide a patient portal or Web-based solution for patient-generated data.

“The bottom line is that care must be connected and continue wherever the patient is - whether that’s in the hospital, the doctor’s office, or in the home,” said Geeta Nayyar, MD, MBA, chief medical information officer for AT&T. “The healthcare industry has lagged behind other industries, such as banking and travel, in tapping technology that can engage the patient and connect the continuum. We are finally seeing real progress as an industry, but there is still more to do.”

Health Care’s Most Wired Survey, conducted between January 15 and March 15, asked hospitals and health systems nationwide to answer questions regarding their IT initiatives. Respondents completed 659 surveys, representing 1,713 hospitals, or roughly 30 percent of all U.S. hospitals.

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

About Community Health Network
Ranked among the nation’s most integrated healthcare systems, Community Health Network is Central Indiana’s leader in providing convenient access to exceptional healthcare services, where and when patients need them - in hospitals, health pavilions and doctor’s offices, as well as workplaces, schools and homes. As a non-profit health system with over 200 sites of care and affiliates throughout Central Indiana, Community’s full continuum of care integrates hundreds of physicians, specialty and acute care hospitals, surgery centers, home care services, MedChecks, behavioral health and employer health services. To learn more, visit eCommunity.com or call 800-777-7775.

About the AHA
The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which includes nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA Web site at www.aha.org.

About the Most Wired Survey
The 2013 Most Wired Survey is conducted in cooperation with McKesson Corp., AT&T, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, and the American Hospital Association.

About the Sponsors
McKesson Corp., currently ranked 14th on the FORTUNE 500, is a health care services and information technology company dedicated to making the business of health care run better. The company partners with payers, hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies and others across the spectrum of care to build healthier organizations that deliver better care to patients in every setting. McKesson helps its customers improve their financial, operational and clinical performance with solutions that include pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management, health care information technology, and business and clinical services. For more information, visit www.mckesson.com

AT&T is connecting healthcare in exciting, efficient new ways to help you enhance clinical collaboration, improve patient engagement and care outcomes, lower costs, and move to value-based care. AT&T ForHealthSM is developing and delivering advanced IT solutions in four areas: mHealth solutions; care collaboration and health information exchange platforms; telehealth solutions; and cloud-based services and applications. From health plans to hospitals to physician offices to patients’ homes, we’re connecting stakeholders across the continuum of care, using smart networks and mobile technologies that help create a healthier world. For more information, visit www.corp.att.com/healthcare/solutions.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior health care IT leaders. With more than 1,400 CIO members and more than 85 health care IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and health care in the communities they serve. For more information, visit http://www.cio-chime.org.

Lynda de Widt, Media Relations
Lynda de Widt
Media Relations