'100 Most Wired' and '25 Most Wireless' hospitals

Lehigh Valley, Pa. (August 7, 2007)

Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN) is named among the "100 Most Wired" and "25 Most Wireless" hospitals in the U.S. LVHHN also received an Innovator Award for the advanced intensive care unit (AICU). The survey, conducted by Hospitals and Health Networks (H&HN), a publication of the American Hospital Association, measures the use of information technology to address safety and quality, customer service, business processes, workforce, and public health and safety.

This year, the survey was expanded to cover a wider range of quality and cost measures to show a direct relationship between patient outcomes and information systems adoption. The 2007 survey results relied on mortality rates, complication rates, average lengths of stay, case mix and expenses per patient. "What they tried to demonstrate this year is how investment in technology really does lead to better quality and patient outcomes," said Harry Lukens, LVHHN senior vice president and chief information officer.

This is the sixth consecutive time LVHHN has made the "100 Most Wired" list and third time to make the "25 Most Wireless" list. It also is the only hospital in the Lehigh Valley to be named among the "100 Most Wired" and "25 Most Wireless." This year, more than 20 percent of hospitals nationwide participated in the survey.

The survey is designed to show how hospitals use a wide array of information technology tools to address quality and safety. This includes: Computer Assisted Physician Order Entry (CAPOE), bedside electronic medication matching or barcoding, automated alerts and reminders, physician portals and electronic patient surveillance.

This year LVHHN also received an Innovator Award for its use of technology to gain universal CAPOE compliance, and is the only organization to be awarded the Innovator Award two years in a row. CAPOE is a software system that allows for electronic ordering of tests and medications to reduce hand-writing and other human errors. But in patients that need parenteral nutrition solutions (feeding through an intravenous tube), CAPOE compliance was an issue because the solutions are complex, and require many ingredients to be mixed.

So, a multidisciplinary team developed an online ordering system that makes use of drop-down boxes, required fields, and alerts and warnings to make it easier for physicians ordering parenteral nutrition solutions to use CAPOE. The new system for ordering parenteral nutrition solutions has enabled LVHHN's entire medical staff to use the CAPOE drug order system.

"Technology in health care has no value unless it directly or indirectly supports patient care," Lukens says. "Recognition represents our commitment to using technology as an enabler of patient care. The right technology in the hands of our caregivers can and does make them more efficient and enhances patient safety."

Based in Allentown and Bethlehem, Pa., Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network comprises Lehigh Valley Hospital – Cedar Crest & I-78, Lehigh Valley Hospital – 17th & Chew, Lehigh Valley Hospital -- Muhlenberg and Lehigh Valley Health Services, which includes home health, hospice, rehabilitation, pharmacy and health management. Advanced regional resources at these non-profit hospitals include a Level I trauma center with added pediatric qualifications, regional burn center, certified stroke center, as well as kidney and pancreas transplant, perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer care, and neurology and complex neurosurgery capabilities. LVHHN hospitals are designated national Magnet hospitals for excellence in nursing. LVH is one of Pennsylvania’s largest teaching hospitals and is a major teaching campus of Penn State's College of Medicine.

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