CHEYENNE – According to new data from a health care analytics firm, three 25-bed Wyoming hospitals have fully embraced electronic medical records.
Community Hospital in Torrington, Platte County Memorial Hospital in Wheatland and Washakie Medical Center in Worland all earned the firm’s top recognition – or stage 7 designations – for the movement to electronic medical records. The group uses a series of stages ranging from zero to seven, with seven being the highest. Through the second quarter of 2013, only 2.1 percent of hospitals have reached the highest stage that HIMSS describes as “complete electronic medical records.”
“These health care organizations now support the true sharing and use of patient data that ultimately improves process performance, quality of care and patient safety,” the website for the firm, HIMSS Analytics explained.
Only 23 states have hospitals that made the highest level. Among neighboring states, Montana, Idaho, Utah and South Dakota have no hospitals that achieved the highest designation. Colorado had five hospitals reach the mark and Nebraska only one.
Cheyenne Regional Medical Center announced today it reached a stage 6 designation as well, placing it among about 10.2 percent of 5,400 hospitals to have done so by August. It is not clear whether other Wyoming hospitals have reached this stage.
“Understanding the level of electronic medical record capabilities in hospitals is a challenge in the U.S. healthcare industry today,” said John Hoyt, HIMSS Analytics executive vice president in a release. “HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a means of evaluating the progress and impact of hospital-based electronic medical record systems.”
Cheyenne Regional this year transitioned to the EPIC system, which is tied to everything from clinic care to billing.
“Each of the stages includes critical benchmarks,” said Dr. Ashutosh Goel, Cheyenne Regional’s chief informatics officer in a release. “Being at stage 6 demonstrates that Cheyenne Regional is ahead of most U.S. hospital systems in its adoption and implementation of an electronic medical record.”
The hospital and officials say that even this one-off designation puts the Cheyenne hospital ahead of the curve.
“Stage 6 represents a level of sophistication that few U.S. hospitals have reached to date,” Hoyt said. Source
