Franklin Memorial Named Among the Nation’s Most Wired Hospitals, Again!
More than 1,700 hospitals considered for the award
Farmington ¾
Franklin Memorial Hospital has again been named as one of 289 of the nation’s most wired hospitals according to the results of the 2013 Most Wired Survey Benchmarking Study released today in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association (AHA).
This year marks the 15th anniversary of Health Care’s Most Wired Survey. In that time, hospitals and health care systems have made great strides in establishing the basic building blocks for creating robust clinical information systems aimed at improving patient care. This includes adopting technologies to improve patient documentation, advancing clinical decision support and evidence-based protocols, reducing the likelihood of medication errors, and rapidly restoring access to data in the case of a disaster or outage.
Health Care’s Most Wired Survey asked hospitals and health systems nationwide to answer questions regarding their IT initiatives. Respondents representing 1,713 hospitals were considered for the award.
Among some of the key findings this year:
- Sixty-nine percent of Most Wired hospitals and 60 percent of all surveyed hospitals report that medication orders are entered electronically by physicians. This represents a significant increase from 2004 results when only 27 percent of Most Wired hospitals and 12 percent of all hospitals responded, “Yes.”
- Seventy-one percent of Most Wired hospitals have an electronic disease registry to identify and manage gaps in care across a population compared with 51 percent of total responders.
- Sixty-six percent of Most Wired hospitals share patient discharge data with affiliated hospitals, in comparison to 49 percent of the total responders. Thirty-seven percent of Most Wired hospitals do so with non-affiliated hospitals versus 24 percent of total responders.
- 41 percent of Most Wired hospitals provide a patient portal or Web-based solution for patient-generated data.
“As shown by these survey results, hospitals continue to demonstrate how IT not only can be used to improve patient care and safety, but also to improve efficiency,” said Rich Umbdenstock, AHA president and CEO. “This year’s Most Wired organizations exemplify progress through innovation.”
Franklin Memorial Hospital has made information technology a priority in recent years. For example, all Franklin Health medical practices and the hospital emergency department have converted from paper medical records to electronic medical records that provide instant and complete patient information to consulting health care providers in medical offices, emergency rooms, hospitals, and other health facilities to improve patient care. This year, access to a patient portal was given to all Franklin Health primary care patients with computer access. This patient portal is a secure Web site that gives patients convenient 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection. Using a secure user name and password, patients can view their test results, office visit summaries, medication list, and request prescription refills and appointments. Patient portals have been found to enhance patient-provider communication, empower patients, support care between visits and, most importantly, improve patient outcomes.
Rebecca Ryder, president of Franklin Community Health Network (FCHN) and Franklin Memorial Hospital , said being recognized for three consecutive years is another important milestone. “This is a very prestigious and much sought after award,” she said, adding that the achievement “is not just about the IT Department, but the entire staff who has embraced the new technologies.”
“Equipping caregivers with the information needed to drive quality, safety, and efficiency will continue to be an imperative as the challenges facing health systems grow increasingly complex,” said Ralph Johnson, FCHN chief information officer. “The effective use of health IT, including actionable analytics and connectivity, can be a strategic lever as hospitals and health systems work to drive better outcomes while managing capacity, reducing costs, and coordinating care across multiple settings and caregivers.”
Franklin Memorial Hospital , Maine Medical Center, Eastern Maine Medical Center , Blue Hill Memorial Hospital , and Sebasticook Valley Healthcare are the only hospitals in Maine to be recognized in the “Most Wired Overall” category this year.