MU Health Care has been recognized as one of the nation’s “most wired” health systems for its advanced health care information technology. The announcement came in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine. It is the third year in a row that the hospital has been on the “most wired” list.
The trade magazine’s survey honors the top hospitals in the country making progress in adopting health information technology specific to the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety, and clinical integration.
The MU hospitals and clinics recognized are Children’s Hospital, Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, Missouri Orthopaedic Institute, Missouri Psychiatric Center, Missouri Rehabilitation Center, University Clinics, University Hospital, University Physicians, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and Health Care Partners.
“Receiving this award for the third straight year shows our focus on using high-tech innovation to provide the most state-of-the-art patient care,” said Mitch Wasden, chief executive officer and chief operating officer of MU Health Care.
During the past few years, MU Health Care has implemented numerous improvements to its electronic medical records. In March 2013, it opened the relocated Ellis Fischel Cancer Center at University Hospital.
The center is equipped with 90 “smart” rooms in its care tower, each with technology designed to integrate directly with the health system’s electronic medical record (EMR). An example is the vital signs machine that wirelessly uploads data to the EMR in real time.
The tower also incorporates technology developed at MU Health Care by Cerner and the Tiger Institute for Health
Innovation.
One is the Always-on Flow Sheet in intensive care unit rooms. The flow sheet displays a patient’s vital signs for the past 30 hours on a flat-screen monitor above the patient’s bed, giving health care professionals the information they need the moment they walk into the room.
“Our aim is to create a high-tech, high-touch environment,” said Bryan Bliven, interim chief information officer at MU Health Care and executive director of the Tiger Institute.
“By integrating technology into health care, we can free clinicians to spend more time at the bedside caring for their patients, and less time writing notes and flipping through patient charts,” Bliven said.