Winchester, Va. -- Valley Health System has been named to the 2015 list of the country’s
Most Wired™ hospitals and health systems, recognizing how the not-for-profit
system has integrated information technology (IT) to improve quality care
and patient safety and lower healthcare costs.
The 17th annual HealthCare’s Most Wired survey and benchmarking study was
released earlier this month by the American Hospital Association’s
Health Forum and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives
(CHIME). It is a leading industry barometer measuring IT adoption among
hospitals nationwide. The survey of more than 741 participants, representing
more than 2,213 hospitals, examined how organizations are leveraging IT
to improve all aspects of patient care.
Valley Health’s six hospitals, outpatient clinics, physician practices,
medical transport service and home care services use secure electronic
data to exchange information across care settings in a variety of ways,
including:
- Encouraging patient involvement through My Chart;
- Sharing test results between providers and facilities through the health
system’s electronic health record, EpicCare;
- Ensuring medication reconciliation and safety;
- Monitoring adherence with regulatory standards and evidence-based care
benchmarks;
- Identifying patients at medium-to-high risk of readmission to ensure their
discharge plans and education set them up for successful healing and disease
management after they leave the hospital.
To achieve Most Wired designation in 2015, organizations were required
to meet specific criteria in four key areas: infrastructure, business
and administrative management, clinical quality and safety, and clinical
integration. Valley Health is one of 338 organizations nationwide which
met these core criteria.
“Being recognized as a Most Wired health system is a proud reflection
of the true team effort involved in integrating technology across our
continuum of care,” says Jim Burton, interim chief information officer
and vice president of Information Systems at Valley Health. “It
represents the collective efforts of everyone, from those who install,
program, analyze and maintain our wide assortment of IT tools to all who
collect, input, interpret, diagnose and otherwise use the resulting data
and information throughout Valley Health.”
The 2015 Most Wired survey showed that health data security and patient
engagement are top priorities for hospitals nationwide. Valley Health
uses information technology to ensure that its care providers have the
information they need, when they need it, while aggressively implementing
privacy and security measures to protect that information.
Valley Health System, based in Winchester, VA, is a not-for-profit health
system serving a population of more than 450,000 in northwest Virginia,
West Virginia’s eastern panhandle, and southwest Maryland. Valley
Health includes six hospitals: Winchester Medical Center, a 445-bed regional
referral center; Warren Memorial Hospital in Front Royal, VA; Shenandoah
Memorial Hospital in Woodstock, VA; Page Memorial Hospital in Luray, VA;
Hampshire Memorial Hospital in Romney, WV; and War Memorial Hospital in
Berkeley Springs, WV. Additional services include physician practices,
regional medical transport, Urgent Care centers, retail pharmacy, and
home oxygen, medical equipment and supply stores. Visit www.valleyhealthlink.com.