Premier Health on Most Wired list

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DAYTON — Premier Health has been named to 2017’s Most Wired list in recognition of its efforts to simplify the interaction between patients and health care providers through advanced technology.

New tools are helping patients maintain their health and become more actively involved in their care, according to results of the 19th annual Health Care’s Most Wired survey, released recently by the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Health Forum.

Premier Health is the only hospital system in the Dayton area named to the 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.

In recent years, Premier Health has rolled out several “wired” applications, including telehealth in various applications, such as evisits and virtual visits, electronic medical records and the MyChart app. Analyzing data was also a factor in naming wired hospitals.

This year’s results show that, among recognized hospitals:

• 76 percent offer secure messaging with clinicians on mobile devices.

•When patients need ongoing monitoring at home, 74 percent use secure emails for patients and families to keep in touch with the care team.

• 68 percent simplify prescription renewals by letting patients make requests 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 use telehealth to provide behavioral health services to more patients.

• 40 percent offer virtual physician visits.

• More than 40 percent provide real-time care management services to patients at home for diabetes and congestive heart failure.

“This is the result of considerable effort in recent years to provide our patients with more and better access points,” said Gary Ginter, chief information officer of Premier Health.

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

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.

“We have been using data analytics for years to ensure we are staffed correctly. When we see fluctuations, we quickly adjust to meet the needs of our patients,” said Mary Boosalis, president and CEO of Premier Health.

HealthCare’s Most Wired survey, conducted between Jan. 15 and March 15, is published annually by Hospitals & Health Networks. The 2017 Most Wired survey and benchmarking study is a leading industry barometer measuring information technology 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 information technology to improve performance for value-based health care in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management; quality and safety; and clinical integration.

Staff report

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