The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff Reports

Posted: Monday, January 01, 2018 12:26 PM

UT Medical Center Named 2017 Most Wired Hospital In Nation According To Survey

The University of Tennessee Medical Center is on the 2017 Most Wired list.

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.

 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.

 More than 40 percent provide real-time care management services to patients at

home for diabetes and congestive heart failure.

“Technology is having a major impact in healthcare today and is shaping the future of
healthcare for tomorrow and beyond,” said Michael Saad, vice president and chief
information officer at The University of Tennessee Medical Center. “I am very excited
that The University of Tennessee Medical Center has been recognized as a Most Wired
hospital and am proud to work alongside such a great group of professionals as we
strive to provide world-class care for our patients, families and community.”

“The Most Wired hospitals are using every available technology option to create more
ways to reach their patients in order to provide access to care,” said AHA President and
CEO Rick Pollack. “They are transforming care delivery, investing in new delivery
models in order to improve quality, provide access and control costs.”
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.

 97 percent use intrusion detection systems.

 96 percent perform data access audits.

 Nearly 90 percent run targeted phishing exercises to teach employees to

question suspicious emails.

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.

 82 percent analyze retrospective clinical and administrative data to identify areas

for improving quality and reducing the cost of care.

 Three-quarters use sophisticated analytics such as predictive modeling and data

to improve decision-making.

 Nearly 70 percent interface electronic health record data with population health

tools for care management.

 More than 70 percent are providing data analytic tools training to physicians and

nurses.

 45 percent initiate a patient pathway using health IT to follow a care plan.

 Nearly 40 percent deliver quality metrics to physicians at the point-of- care.

 32 percent have tools for real-time patient identification and tracking for value-

based care conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

HealthCare’s Most Wired® survey, conducted between Jan. 15 and March 15, 2017, is
published annually by Health & Hospitals Networks (H&HN). The 2017 Most Wired®
survey and benchmarking study is a leading industry barometer measuring information
technology (IT) use and adoption among hospitals nationwide.

The survey of 698 participants, representing an estimated 2,158 hospitals — more than 39 percent of all hospitals in the U.S. — examines how organizations are leveraging IT to improve
performance for value-based health care in the areas of infrastructure, business and
administrative management; quality and safety; and clinical integration.