Louisville, KY — Jewish Hospital, including Jewish Hospital Medical Center East, has been named one of the nation’s “100 Most Wired Hospitals” according to the 2005 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study, released last week by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the journal of the American Hospital Association. 
“Enhanced quality patient care is at the heart of these initiatives,” says Timothy Jarm, Jewish Hospital president. “Jewish Hospital has made a significant commitment to technology not only in the medical equipment we provide to evaluate a patient’s condition, but in the communication tools we use with our patients, physicians and nurses.”
“Being the only hospital in the area to be selected “Most Wired” is one more way Jewish Hospital demonstrates our commitment to provide excellence in the delivery of quality health care,” says Bob Shircliff, president and CEO, Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services (JHHS). “We are investing in information technology to help us achieve strategic objectives, especially in the areas of patient quality, safety and efficiency. There is a strong and growing recognition of the value that comes from having the right information at the point of care. That value takes the form of greater care team efficiency, less variability and fewer errors, and ultimately improved health outcomes.”
“We were chosen for our breadth of health care IT applications across relevant areas,” says David C. Pecoraro, JHHS vice president and chief information officer. “We continue to implement new information technology to provide quality care for our patients. Two such examples are: through an innovative remote monitoring system, the Jewish Hospital eICU® service, which provides caregivers with another set of eyes right at the patient’s bedside and enhances the critical care we currently provide to our patients; and the MedAdmin, a clinical support system that uses bar-code technology to deliver medications at the point of care to help eliminate medication errors.”
The national survey was conducted by Hospitals & Health Networks and measures the nation’s hospitals on their use of Internet technologies for safety and quality, customer service, disaster readiness, business processes and workforce issues. “Information technology is a very powerful tool, says Alden Solovy, executive editor of Hospitals & Health Networks. “Hospitals that have better outcomes are using a broader array of IT tools.”
A key finding of the survey suggests that hospital and health systems that have invested significantly in information technology may have lower mortality rates.
#####
Jewish Hospital is an internationally renowned high-tech tertiary referral center, developing leading-edge advancements in hand and microsurgery, heart and lung care, home care, rehab medicine (including sports medicine), orthopaedics, neuroscience, occupational health, organ transplantation, outpatient care and primary care. Jewish Hospital is the site of the world’s first and the nation's second successful hand transplants in partnership with the University of Louisville and Kleinert Kutz Hand Care Center. The hospital is also the site of the world’s first and second successful AbioCor® Implantable Replacement Hearts, has achieved Magnet nursing designation and is federally designated to perform all five solid organ transplants -- heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas. U.S. News & World Report recently recognized Jewish Hospital as one of the “Best 50 Hospitals” in the areas of orthopaedic and heart and heart surgery care. Jewish Hospital was also named a “Top 100 Hospital” in the nation in cardiovascular excellence by Solucient and was presented with the Consumer Choice Award as the most preferred hospital in Louisville for the sixth consecutive year.
