As health information technology continues to advance the quality of patient care and patient outcomes, I am pleased to recognize the winners of the 2013 Modern Healthcare CEO IT Achievement Awards, in collaboration with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
Transforming healthcare
This year's winners recognize key roles for IT
This year's award recipients, John Bluford, president and CEO of Truman Medical Centers, Kansas City, Mo., and Dr. Narendra Kini, president and CEO of Miami Children's Hospital, represent different types of healthcare organizations and different parts of the U.S. Yet, as evidenced by Bluford, who leads a multihospital medical center in the Midwest, and Kini at the helm of a children's hospital in one of the Gulf states, both understand the value of and need for information technology to be a strategic force within their respective organizations.
In addition, Truman Medical Centers is a Stage 7 Award recipient, a recognition given by HIMSS Analytics that tracks the adoption of electronic medical-record applications within hospitals and health systems across the U.S., as measured by our EMR Adoption Model. Stage 7 is the highest level of achievement where hospitals operate in paperless environment.
Through leaders such as Bluford and Kini, the transformation of U.S. health and healthcare continues, with IT as the primary enabler, but at a more rapid pace since 2011, through provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. HIMSS Analytics research supports this trend, showing a 63% increase since 2011 in the number of hospitals achieving Stage 7 on the adoption model, operating in a paperless environment with sophisticated health IT in place.
From my perspective, comparing this time last year to now, I believe we are making effective progress through the commitment of clinicians, caregivers, health IT professionals and others who have dedicated their careers to improving the American healthcare system. For example, HHS reports EHR adoption has tripled since 2010, increasing to 44% in 2012. And computerized physician order entry has more than doubled, a 168% increase since 2008.
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