Every year since 1998, Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association, has conducted a survey to find the nation’s Most Wired hospitals and health systems. It states the purpose of the Most Wired survey and benchmarking study is to “promote the effective use of information technology in achieving clinical and operational excellence.”
The American Hospital Association conducts the survey along with McKesson Corp and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. For the survey, now open for 2011, all hospital CIOs receive user ID codes and passwords that will enable them to participate. After the study, each organization that submits the survey receives a few reports, including key findings that detail how Most Wired hospitals and health systems are leading the way in automating and integrating clinical, patient safety, and administrative functions.
It assesses participating hospitals and health systems based on progress in adoption, implementation, and use of information technology in infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety, and care continuum.
I’d be interested in knowing if you work for a Most Wired hospital. Changes obviously came before the survey, which is why a hospital’s named Most Wired, but I would also be interested in knowing if more changes have come about after making the list. Maybe it’s like the Oscars, more money and better parts for the winners—maybe more funding and support comes to honored hospitals in this case too. Or, was there a push before a survey so that your hospital had a chance to make the list?
