UAB Medicine has been named one of “Health Care’s Most Wired” for 2017, according to results of the 19th annual survey by the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum published in its Hospitals & Health Networks journal.
This is the fourth consecutive year UAB Medicine has earned this recognition.
The survey polled 2,158 hospitals to examine how they 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. Hospitals must meet standards in all four categories to achieve the “Most Wired” designation.
This year’s survey results demonstrate that the “Most Wired” hospitals are transforming care delivery and investing in new service models that enhance quality, improve access and control costs. Additionally, hospitals have increased their use of sophisticated IT monitoring systems to detect and prevent patient privacy breaches. This year’s “Most Wired” results indicate that:
- 76 percent of surveyed hospitals offer secure messaging with clinicians via mobile devices.
- 40 percent offer virtual physician visits.
- When patients need ongoing monitoring at home, 74 percent use secure email for patients and families to keep in touch with the care team.
- More than 40 percent provide real-time care management services to patients at home for diabetes and congestive heart failure.
- 68 percent simplify prescription renewals by enabling patients to make requests via mobile devices.
- 62 percent add data reported by patients to the electronic health record to better understand the patient’s condition status.
- Nearly half of the hospitals are using telehealth to provide behavioral health services to more patients.