Marion General Hospital Named 2017 Most Wired

Marion Health has been named one of the 2017 Most Wired™ hospital and health systems in the nation.

Technology is making it easier for patients and providers to interact, thus improving communication, safety and patient-provider relationships. New tools are helping patients become more actively involved in their care and maintaining their health, according to results of the 19th Annual Health Care’s Most Wired® survey, released today by the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Health Forum.

According to the survey, Most Wired hospitals are using smart phones, telehealth and remote monitoring to create more ways for patients to access health care services and capture health information. This year’s results show:

• 76 percent offer secure messaging with clinicians on mobile devices.
• When patients need ongoing monitoring at home, 74 percent use secure e-mails for patients and families to keep in touch with the care team.
• 68 percent simplify prescription renewals by letting patients make requests on mobile devices.
• 62 percent add data reported by patients to the electronic health record to get a better picture of what is going on with the patient.
• Nearly half of the hospitals are using telehealth to provide behavioral health services to more patients.
• 40 percent offer virtual physician visits.
• More than 40 percent provide real-time care management services to patients at home for diabetes and congestive heart failure.

“We are excited to be named as a Most Wired hospital for the eighth time,” states Emmanuel Ndow, Chief Information Officer. This recognition demonstrates the high quality and value that our great, highly skilled team continually produces. It continues to encourage us to be innovative in our strategic use of technology and validates our commitment for continued transformation of the health of our community by providing the best quality care outcomes for our patients.”

Innovation in patient care embraces emerging technologies and underscores the need for secure patient information exchange. Hospitals have increased their use of sophisticated IT monitoring systems to detect patient privacy breaches, monitor for malicious activities or policy violations and produce real-time analysis of security alerts.

Most Wired hospitals are transforming care delivery with knowledge gained from data and analytics. They are investing in analytics to support new delivery models and effective decision-making and training clinicians on how to use analytics to improve quality, provide access and control costs.

Detailed results of the survey and study can be found in the July issue of Health & Hospitals Network magazine. For a full list of winners visit www.hhnmag.com.