HIMSS Analytics, the research arm of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), has awarded Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, with its Stage 7 Award, and 14 of its associated ambulatory clinics the Stage 7 Ambulatory Awards.
HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics database. There are eight stages (0-7) that measure a hospital’s implementation and utilization of information technology applications. The final stage, Stage 7, represents an advanced patient record environment. The validation process to confirm a hospital has reached Stage 7 includes a site visit by an executive from HIMSS Analytics and former or current chief information officers to ensure an unbiased evaluation of the Stage 7 environments.
Developed in 2011, the EMR Ambulatory Adoption Model provides a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for ambulatory facilities owned by hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics database. These facilities include physician practices, clinics, outpatient centers, and specialty clinics.
During the beginning of the third quarter of 2013, 2.2 percent, of the more than 5,400 U.S. hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics database, received the HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 Award, and as of the second fiscal quarter of 2013, only 1.23 percent of the more than 20,000 U.S. ambulatory clinics in the HIMSS Analytics database, received the Stage 7 Ambulatory Award.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, a non-profit organization, is one of the top three recipients of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health, and a research and teaching affiliate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
“Cincinnati Children’s Hospital demonstrated a solid deployment of acute care as well as ambulatory care EMR in this very highly specialized pediatric care environment,” John P. Hoyt, executive vice president, HIMSS Analytics, said in a statement. “Cincinnati Children’s certainly can quiet the critics who say EMR’s cannot be deployed in a sub-specialty environment. This is truly a paperless environment that is now successfully taking advantage of the rules and alerting capability that reinforces best practices.”
The hospital will be recognized at the 2014 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition on Feb. 24-26, 2014, in Orlando, Fla.
