Baptist Health achieves goal with Most Wired recognition

November 02, 2018

Baptist Health has achieved a long-held goal with its recognition as one of the nation's "Most Wired" hospital systems

LOUISVILLE, KY. (Nov. 2, 2018) – Baptist Health has achieved a long-held goal with its recognition as one of the nation’s “Most Wired” hospital systems, according to the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME)  Healthcare’s Most Wired® survey.

The award announcement will appear in the November issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine. Only 254 hospital systems earned the recognition this year, including two in Kentucky and five in Indiana.

This is the third year that the eight-hospital system has been honored for its use of technology to improve communication with and service to patients – from scheduling appointments to sending secure messages to patients about their results and protecting against threats such as ransomware.

“I am thrilled for this recognition for Baptist Health because of the testament it gives to the commitment, teamwork and dedication of all involved to adopt new technology ever mindful of our purpose of taking excellent care of our patients,” said Tricia Julian, Baptist Health’s chief information officer.

In October 2015, Baptist Health began rolling out its electronic health records system to its physician offices and hospitals. Baptist Health worked with Epic Systems, used by some of the nation’s largest health systems for electronic health records. All Baptist Health hospitals, outpatient centers in Kentucky are now using Epic, plus all Baptist Health Medical Group offices. Rollout of the electronic health record to Baptist Health Floyd will begin next year.

“Healthcare IT has the potential to revolutionize care around the world, but to meet that potential it must be used strategically,” said Russell Branzell, president and CEO of CHIME. “The technology is important, but leadership and a strategic vision are equally important. The diversity of the organizations that earned Most Wired status this year shows quality care can be achieved almost anywhere under the right leadership. By sharing the best practices in Most Wired, we hope quality care will one day be available everywhere.”

HealthCare’s Most Wired, now in its 20th year, traditionally tracked the adoption of healthcare IT in hospitals and health systems. CHIME took over the Most Wired program and revised the survey questions and methodology this year to highlight strengths and gaps in the industry. The goal is to identify best practices and promote the strategic use of healthcare IT to elevate the health and care of communities around the world.