Valley Children’s is now recognized as one of the “most wired” healthcare networks by the American Hospital Association (AHA), according to results of the 19th Annual Health Care’s Most Wired® survey, released today by the AHA’s Health Forum. This is the first time Valley Children’s has received this award.
“The strength of our technology is the extraordinary people we have behind the scenes,” says Valley Children’s President and CEO Todd Suntrapak. “They’re behind every tool we use to extend care, communicate with patients and families and improve safety and quality. Caring for kids is a team effort and technology continues to allow us to build strong relationships with our patients, their families and their local caregivers so we can deliver on our promise to provide the highest quality of care those children deserve.”
“The Most Wired hospitals are using every available technology option to create more ways to reach their patients in order to provide access to care,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “They are transforming care delivery, investing in new delivery models in order to improve quality, provide access and control costs.”
The Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study recognizes hospitals and health systems for excellence in Information Technology (IT), based on the organization’s achievements within an analytic structure. Hospitals are analyzed based on progress in adoption, implementation and use of technology in four areas: Infrastructure, Business and Administrative Management, Clinical Quality and Safety, and Clinical Integration.
“Valley Children’s has invested a great deal of time and resources in a robust patient portal that allows our pediatric specialists to reach out to families with updates and information,” says Kevin Shimamoto, Valley Children’s vice president, chief information officer. “Families and patients can ask questions, receive updates and review results. These tools help strengthen the relationship between our providers and the families we serve.”
Valley Children’s also builds security into its technology infrastructure and applications from the time those systems are put into place, constantly evaluating security assessments to ensure patient information stays protected.
HealthCare’s Most Wired® survey, conducted between Jan. 15 and March 15, 2017, is published annually by Health & Hospitals Networks (H&HN). The 2017 Most Wired® survey and benchmarking study is a leading industry barometer measuring information technology (IT) 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 IT to improve performance for value-based health care in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management; quality and safety; and clinical integration.
Detailed results of the survey and study can be found in the July issue of H&HN. For a full list of winners, visit www.hhnmag.com.