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Holy Family Memorial Health Networks achieves HIMSS Stage 6

By Kyle Hardy , Community Editor

Holy Family Memorial Health Network (HFM) has achieved Stage 6 on the HIMSS Analytics Adoption Model scale.

"This national recognition is the culmination of many years of hard work by several individuals – not only in MIS, but all of the HFM staff who have dedicated time and talent in the implementation process and are committed to the use of these electronic tools to enhance patient safety," said Ed Bauknecht, director of HFM’s Management Information Systems. "HIMSS Analytics has confirmed just how far HFM has traveled down the road of EMR."

HIMSS Analytics created the EMR Adoption Model to categorize different levels hospitals have been able to achieve in electronic medical record implementation. The stages range from Stage 0 to Stage 7. Stage 0 being the lowest, indicates that a facility has few to no clinical technology integrated. The highest level of adoption, Stage 7, indicates an EMR environment where paper records are not used to support or manage patient care, data is mined and analyzed to improve care delivery performance, and a health information exchange is integrated and in use to exchange data.

"Being a Stage 6 hospital reinforces HFM's commitment to quality care," said Steve Driggers, HFM’s chief medical officer. "It better positions us to have the capability to provide data on quality of care and to successfully address industry transformations in the future. For the patient and all customers, it means a continued focus on improving care delivery to ensure quality and value throughout our organization."

According to HIMSS Analytics, a Stage 6 hospital:

  • Has made significant executive investments to reach this stage;
  • Appears to have a significant advantage over competitors for patient safety, clinician support, clinician recruitment, and competitive marketing for both consumers and nurse recruitment;
  • Has almost fully automated/paperless medical records;
  • Is either starting to evaluate their data for care delivery process improvements, or have already documented significant improvements in this area;
  • Has made investments that are within reach of most hospitals and recognize the strategic value of improving patient care with the EMR;
  • Is poised to provide data to key audiences (e.g., payers, the government, physicians, consumers, and employers) to support electronic health record (EHR) environments and health information exchanges (HIEs); and
  • Has achieved a significant advancement in their IT capabilities that positions them to successfully address many of the upcoming industry transformations we will be experiencing in the near future, such as HIPAA Claims Attachment, pay for performance, and government quality reporting programs.

"With this achievement, HFM expects to be one of the leading edge hospitals in the nation. Holy Family Memorial has achieved an outstanding goal in support of patient care," said CareTech Solutions’ CEO Jim Giordano. "HFM stands as the model for other US hospitals to emulate when it comes to healthcare IT adoption and use."
 

HFM technology providers include CareTech Solutions, Inc., which has provided IT solutions to HFM since 2007, and LSS Data Systems, which supplies the core ambulatory EMR and practice management system.