July 7, 2010
Fox Cities Healthcare System Makes Top 100 List Nine Years in a Row
For the ninth consecutive year, ThedaCare has earned top marks in an annual survey naming the country’s most technologically advanced health care systems.
ThedaCare, once again, has made the “100 Most Wired” hospitals and health systems list, according to this year’s survey by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the journal of the American Hospital Association. It is only one of six in the state and one of two health care systems based in Northeast Wisconsin to win this award. Door County Memorial Hospital received a small and rural Most Wired hospital honor.
ThedaCare was an early pioneer in implementing electronic health records, an effort that began in 1999. A decade later, nearly 1 million ThedaCare patients benefit from the digital system, which gives their health care providers instant access to their medical information, regardless of location.
“ThedaCare has now been using electronic medical records for 10 years and it is hard to remember how we cared for patients before. Technology has allowed us to really improve the care we offer to patients,” said John Barkmeiner, MD, a former family physician and ThedaCare’s medical director of information technology. “Many patients talk about the benefit of being able to see their medical record and message their physician or schedule an appointment through MyThedaCare, our secure patient portal. With the electronic record tracking the personal care plan, patients can now have their labs drawn when at the clinic and talk to their physician about their results before they leave.”
Keith Livingston, senior vice president and chief information officer for ThedaCare, said receiving the national recognition for nine years in a row is exciting. “We look at our technology in terms of how it can be used to improve patient care,” he said.
ThedaCare also has been a national leader for incorporating “lean” business practices pioneered by the Toyota Production System. Since 2002, ThedaCare has invested more than $20 million in information technology throughout all of its improvement and expansion projects as part of its effort to increase efficiencies, cut costs, and improve care and patient satisfaction.
The 100 Most Wired hospitals show better outcomes in patient satisfaction, risk-adjusted mortality rates and other key quality measures through the use of information technology, according to an analysis by Most Wired Survey. Here are some examples of how ThedaCare implemented technology to improve patient care and satisfaction:
- MyThedaCare, an expansion of ThedaCare’s electronic medical records system, allows patients to access their medical information through an easy-to-use and secure web portal. MyThedaCare also allows patients to securely request appointments, refill prescriptions, view test results and communicate with their doctors.
- Appleton Medical Center and Theda Clark Medical Center offer public wireless access for patients and their family in all patient care areas.
- An integrated robotic pharmacy system manages and dispenses drugs.
- Computer software automates bedside specimen collection and print labeling, reducing errors.
- ThedaCare has converted its imaging systems – including X-ray, CT, and MRI machines – to fully digital systems that allow images to be viewed from any computer.
Technology is also a key component of ThedaCare’s initiative to redesign nursing units and patient rooms at Appleton Medical Center and Theda Clark Medical Center. Included in the room design are bedside workstations and wireless computers on wheels where doctors can enter their orders directly into a computer, instead of writing them down by hand and giving them to a staff member for entry. The new pavilion at Appleton Medical Center with the redesigned rooms opens this month while the remodeling of all patient rooms at Theda Clark will be completed in 2011.
ThedaCare Physicians clinics also are using the latest in technology, including the computerized provider order entry system or CPOE. The new entry system increases efficiencies and cuts down on errors, Livingston said.
“The computer does work in the background and will give alerts and warnings of interactions,” he said.
The Most Wired Survey is conducted annually by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the journal of the AHA, which uses the results to name the 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems. It focuses on how the nation’s hospitals use information technologies for quality, customer service, public health and safety, business processes and workforce issues. Hospitals & Health Networks conducted the 2009 survey in cooperation with McKesson Corp. and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. The July H&HN cover story detailing results is available at www.hhnmag.com. McKesson Corporation is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Marking its 12th year, the annual Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study, one of the leading IT benchmarking tools in health care, measures hospital IT activities in five key areas: quality, customer service, public health and safety, business processes, and workforce issues.
ThedaCare (www.thedacare.org) is a community-owned health system consisting of Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center, New London Family Medical Center, Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca, ThedaCare Physicians, and other health care services. ThedaCare is the largest employer in Northeast Wisconsin with nearly 5,400 employees.
For more information, media may contact Megan Wilcox (megan.wilcox@thedacare.org), corporate and public relations specialist for ThedaCare, at (920) 830-5847 or pager (920) 554-0730.