July 28, 2010

Greenwich Hospital Reaches Technological Milestone:
Named Among Nation's "Most Wired" Hospitals for Tenth Year

Greenwich, Conn. - For a tenth year, Greenwich Hospital has been named among the nation's "Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems" for employing information technology that improves the quality and safety of patient care.

Greenwich Hospital's selection in the annual survey by Hospitals and Health Networks underscores the hospital's long-standing commitment to use health information technology to enhance the safety and coordination of patient care, said James Weeks, chief information officer at Greenwich Hospital. "It's all about doing the right thing for patients," said Weeks.

The designation means Greenwich Hospital is well positioned to comply with federal healthcare reforms that mandate the adoption of electronic medical records and other health information technology, he said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is considering highlighting Greenwich Hospital on its website as an example of a hospital that has successfully embraced health information technology.

"Greenwich Hospital recognized that technology could impact the delivery of care at every level long before the federal government began pushing hospitals to adopt health information technology," added Weeks.

"Most Wired" hospitals show better outcomes in patient satisfaction, risk-adjusted mortality rates and other key quality measures through the use of information technology. This year, the survey included new questions about the meaningful use of information technology.

A model for the rest of the country
A longtime leader in information technology, Greenwich Hospital is among the few hospitals in the nation to have made the "Most Wired" list 10 times or more. Greenwich Hospital is also the first hospital in Connecticut and among the less than 3 percent of hospitals nationwide to earn "Stage 6" status as awarded by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) for using technology to provide the highest levels of patient safety and quality outcomes. (Stage 7 goes to organizations that are 100 percent paperless.)

Greenwich Hospital far surpasses other institutions in the survey when it comes to integrating information technology throughout the organization. Technological innovations at Greenwich Hospital include a bedside medication verification system, electronic medical records, online nursing documentation, online physician ordering, electronic clinical monitoring and more.

The patient benefits of health information technology are plentiful. For example, physicians electronically place 91 percent of Greenwich Hospital's medication orders, reducing the chance for errors due to illegible handwriting. The amount of time it takes for a medication request to reach the pharmacy has gone from 44 minutes to five minutes. Doctors can securely access critical patient information electronically from anywhere within the hospital or the internet via wired or wireless devices to expedite care. Electronic medical records include a patient's complete medical history and avoid the expense of duplicating unnecessary tests and procedures.

Future plans include implementing an electronic medical record system across the entire Yale New Haven Health System, which includes Greenwich Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital, Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Yale School of Medicine.

"We are always looking for new opportunities to enhance the patient experience with the use of information technology and workflow redesign," said Weeks.

# # # #