The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) earlier this month released its 2018 list of the "Most Wired" hospitals and health systems, recognizing over 250 organizations for their success in health IT adoption.

Methodology

This year's "Most Wired" list marks the 20th edition and it is the first year CHIME has administered the list. The list previously was released by Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN) and conducted in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the health care security firm Clearwater Compliance.

For the 20th edition, Russell Branzell, CHIME's president and CEO, said the survey used to determine the "Most Wired" recipients "underwent a top-to-bottom review designed to streamline the survey, improve data accuracy, and reduce redundancy." For instance, CHIME added an auditing and validation process to verify the submitted results of each survey and raised the threshold for organizations to receive recognition.

This year, 647 organizations representing 2,190 hospitals in nine countries submitted surveys pertaining to their organization's IT capabilities in several categories, including:

• Information security;
• Interoperability; and
• Patient engagement.

How to create a consumer-focused digital strategy

The surveys were graded on a 100-point weighted scale.

The 'Most Wired' hospitals

Based on those survey results, CHIME named 254 hospitals and health systems "Most Wired."

CHIME in this year's list featured the Top 10 "Most Wired" hospitals:

1. Nicklaus Children's Health System* in Miami;
2. Baptist Health South Florida* in Coral Gables, Florida;
3. Lehigh Valley Hospital* in Allentown, Pennsylvania;
4. Altru Health System* in Grand Forks, North Dakota;
5. Avera Health* in Sioux Falls, South Dakota;
6. Atrium Health* in Charlotte, North Carolina;
7. Sheridan Memorial Hospital in Sheridan, Wyoming;
8. Cedars-Sinai Health System* in Los Angeles;
9. Henry Ford Health System* in Detroit; and
10. UCLA Health* in Los Angeles.

Nine of the top 10 hospitals are Advisory Board members—which is noted above with a star.

CHIME in this year's list also highlighted the way hospitals are using IT to reduce unnecessary opioid prescribing amid the opioid epidemic. According to an analysis of the survey data, about 50% of participating hospitals use electronic prescribing for controlled substances and nearly 50% of participants are linked to a prescription drug monitoring program. The survey showed about 70% have incorporated nonnarcotics in to order sets and 68% have placed limits on the number of pills per prescription (Cohen, Becker's Health IT & CIO Report, 11/16; CHIME Most Wired 2018 list; CHIME release, 11/2).

Want to become a "Most Wired" hospital?

See below for the Advisory Board's latest research on IT capabilities in three core categories.

• Information security | Infographic: How to be a cybersecurity sentinel
• Interoperability | Toolkit: Promoting interoperability (PI) program toolkit
• Patient engagement | Report: Explore 3 categories of IT tools to gather patient experience feedback

Then, download our cheat sheets so you can keep track of the fast-changing technologies and capitalize on opportunities for IT-powered innovation.

Access the Cheat Sheets