The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) announced, today, that Saint Barnabas Medical Center (SBMC) has earned 2019 CHIME HealthCare’s Most Wired Performance Excellence Award. The Most Wired program conducts an annual survey to assess how effectively healthcare organizations apply core and advanced technologies into their clinical and business programs to improve health and care in their communities.
“Saint Barnabas Medical Center strives to raise the standard of care for our patients and families,” says Stephen P. Zieniewicz, FACHE, President and CEO, SBMC. “The Information Technology (IT) department at Saint Barnabas Medical Center has worked diligently to leverage our technology and produce the best experience for our community.”
The 2019 Most Wired Survey assessed the adoption, integration and impact of technologies in healthcare organizations at all stages of development, from early development to industry leading. Saint Barnabas Medical Center received a customized benchmarking report, an overall score and scores for individual levels in eight segments: infrastructure; security; business/disaster recovery; administrative/supply chain; analytics/data management; interoperability/population health; patient engagement; and clinical quality/safety.
Some examples of IT advancements at Saint Barnabas Medical Center include:
- Safety initiatives built in the environment. This year, SBMC provided screen shots within their electronic health record that showed alerts and criteria that comes up when ordering pediatric imaging studies.
- Reaching out to consumers. SBMC uses secure texting, sending medication lists to patients while they are in the hospital and discharge instructions directly to their smartphone. SBMC has also built care plans for specific diagnosis that are sent to the patient’s smartphones.
- Increased Telehealth and Telemedicine. Utilize systems that enable virtual consults and remote diagnosis for conditions such as stroke.
- Monitoring patients at home via electronic tools.
- Bar coding medications at point of care at 97%. Computerized Provider Order Entry at 93% and electronic prescribing of medication at 60% even without controlled substances.