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Unity Health is proud to announce being named one of the Most Wired Hospitals of 2017 by the American Hospital Association. Technology is making it easier for patients and providers to interact, thus improving communication, safety and patient-provider relationships. New tools are helping patients become more actively involved in their care and maintaining their health, according to results of the 19th Annual Health Care's Most Wired^® survey, released today by the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Health Forum.

"We are honored to have received the Most Wired recognition," Unity Health President and CEO, Ray Montgomery said. "I am proud of our Information Technology team as well as our vendors, CPSI and Greenway, for the efforts to enhance a great patient experience."

According to the survey, Most Wired hospitals are using smart phones, telehealth and remote monitoring to create more ways for patients to access health care services and capture health information. This year's results show:

• 76 percent offer secure messaging with clinicians on mobile devices.
• Nearly half of the hospitals are using telehealth to provide behavioral health services to more patients.

"Telehealth is a significant initiative for Unity Health," Montgomery said. "Currently we are utilizing telehealth in our school based clinic, a rural community, and for behavioral health services with a psychiatrist. Cardiology utilizes telehealth to reach patients in our secondary hospital market and through a nursing home in another market. We anticipate a lot of growth in this area in the coming years"

"The Most Wired hospitals are using every available technology option to create more ways to reach their patients in order to provide access to care," said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. "They are transforming care delivery, investing in new delivery models in order to improve quality, provide access and control costs."

Innovation in patient care embraces emerging technologies and underscores the need for secure patient information exchange. Hospitals have increased their use of sophisticated IT monitoring systems to detect patient privacy breaches, monitor for malicious activities or policy violations and produce real-time analysis of security alerts.

• 97 percent use intrusion detection systems.
• 96 percent perform data access audits.
• Nearly 90 percent run targeted phishing exercises to teach employees to question suspicious emails.

Most Wired hospitals are transforming care delivery with knowledge gained from data and analytics. They are investing in analytics to support new delivery models and effective decision-making and training clinicians on how to use analytics to improve quality, provide access and control costs.

• 82 percent analyze retrospective clinical and administrative data to identify areas for improving quality and reducing the cost of care.
• Three-quarters use sophisticated analytics such as predictive modeling and data to improve decision-making.
• Nearly 70 percent interface electronic health record data with population health tools for care management.
• More than 70 percent are providing data analytic tools training to physicians and nurses.
• 45 percent initiate a patient pathway using health IT to follow a care plan.

"Something the Information Technology department at Unity Health is working on is to develop a virtual warehouse of data across Electronic Media Records (EMR) platforms – ultimately we need to have the ability to pull data so that a healthcare provider can have a view of the patient, across every setting of care, in one location," Montgomery said. "Unity Health is moving toward a virtual environment for all providers which will give access to all episodes of care in any delivery location so the provider can get a complete picture of the patient."

HealthCare's Most Wired^® survey, conducted between Jan. 15 and March 15, 2017, is published annually by Health & Hospitals Networks (H&HN). The 2017 Most Wired® survey and benchmarking study is a leading industry barometer measuring information technology (IT) use and adoption among hospitals nationwide. The survey of 698 participants, representing an estimated 2,158 hospitals — more than 39 percent of all hospitals in the U.S. — examines how organizations are leveraging IT to improve performance for value-based health care in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management; quality and safety; and clinical integration.

Detailed results of the survey and study can be found in the July issue of H&HN. For a full list of winners, visit www.hhnmag.com.

About the Most Wired Survey

The 2017 Most Wired Survey is conducted in cooperation with the American Hospital Association and Clearwater Compliance, LLC.

About the American Hospital Association

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the improvement of health in their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks and other providers of care. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit www.aha.org.

About Health Forum

Health Forum is a strategic business enterprise of the American Hospital Association, creatively partnering to develop and deliver essential information and innovative services to help health care leaders achieve organizational performance excellence and sustainability. For more information, visit www.healthforum.com.

About Clearwater Compliance, LLC | https://clearwatercompliance.com/

Clearwater Compliance, LLC is a leading provider of healthcare compliance and cyber risk management solutions. Its mission is to empower hospitals and health systems to successfully manage healthcare's evolving cybersecurity risks and ensure patient safety. Exclusively endorsed by the American Hospital Association, Clearwater solutions have been deployed within hundreds of hospitals and health systems, Fortune 100 organizations and federal government institutions. More information about Clearwater Compliance is at http://www.Clearwatercompliance.com.

ABOUT UNITY HEALTH:

As the leading healthcare provider in an eight-county area, Unity Health and its associates strive to improve the quality of health and well-being for the communities it serves through compassionate care. Unity Health is the largest employer in an eight-county area with more than 2,000 associates. The Searcy facility has a combined total of 438 licensed beds and a medical staff of 150 physicians that specialize in various areas of healthcare.

In addition to the White County Medical Center and Specialty Care Campuses, Unity Health in Searcy includes Unity Health – Clarity Health and Wellness, Unity Health – Family Practice Associates, Unity Health – After Hours Clinic, Unity Health - Orthopaedic and Spine Center, Unity Health – Searcy Medical Center and Unity Health – Searcy Medical Center, West, Unity Health – Westside Family Medical Clinic, Unity Health Cardiology Clinic and Unity Health Oncology Clinic.