For the ninth consecutive year, Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been named among the nation’s 100 “most-wired” hospitals and health systems for its innovative efforts in medical technology.
The 2013 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study was conducted by Hospitals and Health Networks magazine in cooperation with McKesson Corp., the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and the American Hospital Association (AHA). 
“Vanderbilt University Health System is pleased and honored to be recognized in the 100 Most Wired Hospitals Survey,” said Blackford Middleton, M.D., MPH, M.Sc., chief informatics officer for Vanderbilt University Health System.
“Health informatics and technology services are central to the delivery of our combined mission in patient care, education and research, and the transformation of health care delivery.”
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.
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.
Among the key findings in this year’s survey:
• 41 percent of Most Wired hospitals provide a patient portal or Web-based solution for patient-generated data.
• 32 percent of Most Wired hospitals conduct controlled experiments or scenario planning to make better management decisions.
• 69 percent of Most Wired hospitals and 60 percent of all surveyed hospitals report that medication orders are entered electronically by physicians.
• 71 percent of Most Wired hospitals have an electronic disease registry to identify and manage gaps in care across a population, compared with 51 percent of total responders.
• 66 percent of Most Wired hospitals share patient discharge data with affiliated hospitals, in comparison to 49 percent of total responders.
For more information and to see the list of Most Wired hospitals, go to www.hhnmag.com.
