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Novant Health has been named one of the nation's 25 MOST IMPROVED health systems, according to the results of the 2004 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study.

Survey results found that health systems like Novant Health are making significant progress automating four core components of an electronic medical record (EMR)-- current medical records, medical history, patient demographics and nurses' notes. The survey measures the nation's hospitals on their use of Internet technologies for quality, customer service, public health and safety, business processes and workforce issues.

"This year's Most Wired survey focused on clinical automation, Internet and Intranet service," said Toni Kourey, senior vice president/chief information officer. "At Novant Health, we've incorporated several systems that have put us at the forefront of clinical automation. In addition to the MAC (Medication Administration Checker) system and Mercury MD wireless handheld computers for the physicians, our acute care facilities now offer on-line bill pay. The number of patients taking advantage of this service increases every month.

"We also recently invested more than $2 million to install T-systems in our new emergency departments at Forsyth Medical Center and Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville that will help them become more efficient and capture effective clinical information. From the time a patient enters the emergency department, nurses and physicians enter all clinical documentation on wireless laptops or desktop PCs. Referring physicians have access to their patients' information online through a remote access secure portal. We are one of the early adopters of this technology. Over time, you'll see more emergency departments across the country begin using similar automated systems," Kourey predicted.

Results from the national survey were used to name the 100 Most Wired, the 25 Most Improved, the 25 Most Wireless and the 25 Most Wired-Small and Rural. The survey also found that Most Wired hospitals have made considerable investments in other key technologies, such as radiology systems and picture archiving communications systems (PACS). Hospitals & Health Networks conducted the survey in cooperation with IDX Systems Corporation and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME).

"Top hospitals realize the power of the electronic medical record to improve quality, safety and the patient experience," says Alden Solovy, executive editor of Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association (AHA), which has named the 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems for the past six years. These hospitals are emphasizing clinical quality and patient services in their efforts to remain technology leaders, says Solovy.

President Bush has pledged to establish an EMR system within 10 years and has appointed an IT coordinator to guide health care organizations toward improving IT infrastructure. Results from the 2004 survey show that the 100 Most Wired hospitals are striving to achieve this goal.

Analysis from this years survey results shows:

In addition, these hospitals are taking the lead in providing EMR for clinician review. Of the 2004 Most Wired hospitals:

The 25 Most Improved organizations are not on the 100 Most Wired list, but their scores improved the most from 2003 to 2004.