Dive Brief:
- The American Hospital Association’s strategic business division Health Forum has released its 19th annual Most Wired survey results.
- The survey of 298 participants representing an estimated 2,158 hospitals looked at hospitals’ uptake of digital technologies like telehealth, secure messaging, smartphones and mobile apps to support the shift to value-based care.
- It also examined EHR integration with population health tools and advances in cybersecurity around connected devices. Hospitals that made the list were designated either advanced, most improved, innovative or small/rural.
Dive Insight:
According to the Health Forum, Most Wired hospitals are using technology to improve care delivery and remote monitoring of patients with chronic health conditions. Key takeaways from the survey include:
- More than 40% of respondents provide real-time care management to patients at home for diabetes and congestive heart failure;
- Nearly 70% allow patients to request prescription renewals via mobile devices;
- Nearly half use telehealth to provide behavioral health services, while 40% offer virtual physician visits, and
- Nearly 70% interface EHRs with population health management tools.
Data analytics is also a hot area, with 82% of respondents using retrospective data to identify quality improvement and cost reduction targets. Three quarters of Most Wired hospitals use predictive modeling and data to improve decision-making, and 40% provide quality metrics to doctors at the point of care.
Still, the survey shows there is room for improvement. While 69% of hospitals reported interfacing EHR data with population health tools, just half said they incorporate data from retail pharmacies and 41% from government agencies.
This year’s survey also asked hospitals about their response time in the wake of a cyberattack or other data breach. More than half of Most Wired hospitals (58%) said clinical information systems would be up and running again within four hours. Nearly half said that financial systems, human resources, staffing and supply chain management would also be available in the four-hour timeframe.
Nearly all of the respondents (97%) said they use intrusion detection systems, and 70% also back up clinical data in the cloud—up from 49% in 2015.
For the first time, the list includes a hospital system outside the U.S., Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. It also includes at least two 25-bed critical access hospitals, Taylorville Memorial Hospital in Illinois and Windom Area Hospital in Minnesota.