July 15, 2008

VUMC among nation’s ‘most wired’ hospitals

Vanderbilt Medical Center\’s technological savvy continues to garner national acclaim, as evidenced by the institution once again being named among the nation\’s 100 "most wired" hospitals and health systems.

Vanderbilt Medical Center‘s technological savvy continues to garner national acclaim, as evidenced by the institution once again being named among the nation’s 100 "most wired" hospitals and health systems.

The 2008 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study was conducted by Hospitals and Health Networks magazine, Accenture, McKesson Corp. and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Vanderbilt has been included in the list.

Bill Stead, M.D., associate vice chancellor for Health Affairs and director of the Informatics Center, is pleased that Vanderbilt has maintained its presence among the nation’s foremost users of medical information technology.

"This is a benchmarking study comparing our hospitals to others based upon use of IT functions with proven quality and efficiency benefits," Stead said. "The Medical Center’s clinical and hospital operations teams and their informatics partners are to be congratulated on staying at the forefront."

All U.S. hospitals are eligible to participate in the annual survey.

Respondents fill in a questionnaire about their use of information technology to support safety and quality, customer service, public health, business processes and the hospital workforce. In all, 556 hospitals and health systems participated in the 2008 survey; individual hospitals represented by the respondents totaled 1,327.

The 100 top scorers were listed in the July issue of Hospitals and Health Networks magazine. The list was ordered alphabetically and rankings were not published.

According to the survey report, "the nation’s 100 Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems have better outcomes than other hospitals on four key measures – mortality rates, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s patient safety measures, the hospital compare’s core measures and average length of stay.

Media Contact: Doug Campbell, (615)322-4747
Frank.d.campbell@vanderbilt.edu