Piedmont Hospital Named 2009 Most Wired Hospital for Sixth Consecutive Year

Piedmont Hospital has been named one of the nation’s Most Wired hospitals, according to the results of the 2009 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study released in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine. Three of the five Georgia hospitals named to the list are part of the Piedmont Healthcare system.

Piedmont Hospital has been named for six consecutive years, while Piedmont Fayette Hospital, also a winner this year, has been recognized for five consecutive years. Both hospitals are the only two in the metro Atlanta area to be named to the 2009 list. This is the second year for Piedmont Mountainside Hospital in Jasper, Ga., to be named in the small and rural category.

“We are proud the Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study has recognized Piedmont Hospital for the sixth year in a row as a Most Wired hospital,” said Robert Maynard, president and CEO of Piedmont Hospital. “This recognition shows our dedication to quality and excellence in the use of information technology to improve patient care and safety.”

The Most Wired Survey is conducted annually by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the journal of the American Hospital Association, which uses the results to name the 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems. It focuses on how the nation’s hospitals use information technologies for quality, customer service, public health and safety, business processes and workforce issues.

“The economic slowdown is forcing hospitals to look closely at IT spending,” says Alden Solovy, executive editor of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine. “Most Wired hospitals are doing their best to stay the course.”

To complicate matters, the great unknown of healthcare reform looms in the near future and a number of regulatory changes are already heading down the pike, including the shift to ICD-10, which hospitals use to code the signs, symptoms and causes of injury or diseases.

“As the health reform debate continues, it’s clear that IT will play an even more important role in the health system of tomorrow,” says Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association (AHA). “Most Wired hospitals help illustrate IT in action—improving efficiency, quality and safety of care while helping to control costs.”

Hospitals also continue to invest in IT that supports quality and safety initiatives. Investment in electronic medication management is considered one of the fundamentals of using IT to improve care. The 2009 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study shows an overall increase in both provider order entry of medications and electronic bedside matching at the time medications are administered.

Hospitals & Health Networks conducted the 2009 survey in cooperation with McKesson Corp. and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. The July H&HN cover story detailing results is available at www.hhnmag.com.
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