Newswise — LITTLE ROCK – The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Medical Center recently became the only Arkansas hospital to earn the 2015 Most Wired Award from the American Hospital Association Health Forum and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME).
Only 338 of the 2,213 hospitals surveyed by CHIME in 2015 received the Most Wired Award. The award winners showed excellence in information technology leadership in addressing patient care, customer service, business processes and safety issues. The hospitals named this year also are at the forefront in health data security and patient engagement.
“When UAMS implemented an integrated electronic health record over a year ago, it was a game changer,” said Rhonda Jorden, UAMS chief information officer. “Finally, the majority of information needed to care for the patient was in one user interface for our health care team. Having this integrated information, in conjunction with other efficiency and performance initiatives, has enabled UAMS to use data to streamline workflows and improve patient care.”
Roxane Townsend, M.D., UAMS Medical Center CEO, said health care teams are using improved access to accurate data to identify areas to improve care and measure the success of medical interventions.
“In addition, the online patient portal has been enthusiastically embraced by our patients and families to access information and communicate with their care team,” Townsend said.
Receiving the Most Wired Award for 2015 is a result of more than three years of hard work by the UAMS Information Technology Division and the Clinical Enterprise to implement and optimize the UConnect electronic health record system and associated clinical software applications as well as the infrastructure that supported them, Jorden said.
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,890 students and 782 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com, or find us on Facebook.
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