UAMS Named Most Wired Hospital for 2016
| July 20, 2016 | UAMS Medical Center recently won the Most Wired Award for the second year in a row from the American Hospital Association Health Forum.
The hospital, part of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has won the distinction nine times. It is one of only two hospitals in Arkansas to earn the honor for 2016. Stone County Medical Center in Mountain View received the award for Most Wired – Small and Rural.
The survey included 680 participants representing an estimated 2,146 hospitals — more than 34 percent of all hospitals in the United States.
“In the past year, UAMS has focused on enhancing patient- and family-centered care,” said Rhonda Jorden, UAMS chief information officer. “This is supported with the transition of our clinical organization to Service Lines and by optimizing our clinical computer systems.”
Projects include:
- Piloting e-visits through the patient portal.
- Moving to a single patient bill.
- Enhancing cybersecurity defenses.
- Enhancing mobile functions so busy clinicians can be more productive.
- Introducing Service Line Balanced Scorecards to measure patient- and family-centered care improvements.
Roxane Townsend, M.D., UAMS Medical Center CEO, said staff and patients alike benefit when a hospital is wired.
“Real-time communication is extremely important to our staff, our patients and their families,” Townsend said. “I’m convinced that as health care becomes more complex and our treatment options more varied, the key to efficient, quality care is going to be ongoing improvement in our ability to communicate and use health information effectively.”
According to the survey, conducted between January and March 2016, Most Wired hospitals are using telehealth to fill gaps in care; provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week; and expand access to medical specialists. In redefining the way that they provide care in their communities, Most Wired hospitals are using technology to build patient engagement with the individual’s lifestyle in mind, which includes electronic access to their care team.
Most Wired hospitals are utilizing population health management tools and partnering with other health care providers to share critical clinical information used in analyzing interventions aimed at key patient groups, such as those with diabetes. To get patients the right care, hospitals are using predictive modeling to eliminate preventable problems. As they build out new capabilities, hospitals are also taking strong actions to ensure health data is secure.
HealthCare’s Most Wired® survey is published annually by Health & Hospitals Networks (H&HN). For a full list of winners, visit www.hhnmag.com.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,485 students, 915 medical residents and fellows, and seven dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 11,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###