Two Adventist Health System Hospitals Recognized as HIMSS Stage 7

Two patient care facilities within Adventist Health System were recognized as Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Adoption Model Stage 7 organizations by HIMSS Analytics.

Florida Hospital Waterman has received an initial EMRAM Stage 7 validation, while Florida Hospital Carrollwood has actually received an EMRAM Stage 7 revalidation, which HIMSS Analytics introduced last year to ensure the EMR Adoption Model “continues to reflect industry best practices so that Stage 7 organizations reflect the optimal use and sharing of patient data toward improved healthcare quality, safety, and operational efficiencies.”  

Based in Altamonte Springs, Fla., Adventist Health System operates facilities within the Southern and Midwestern regions of the U.S. It has 46 hospital campuses, more than 8,300 licensed beds in 10 states, and serves 4.7 million patients annually.

Since implementation at Florida Hospital Waterman in 2006, EMRs have improved the quality and safety of patient care, according to a HIMSS press release. “The team at Florida Hospital Waterman is making great use of their EMR capabilities, especially when it comes to a holistic care team approach.  They have implemented an APACHE (Acute Physiology Age Chronic Health) tool in innovative ways to give patients’ family members a visual representation of their loved one’s health status and prognosis, to improve clinician documentation, and to engage community stakeholders in ongoing support following discharge,” John H. Daniels, global vice president, healthcare advisory services group, HIMSS Analytics, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Florida Hospital Carrollwood is also very focused on quality and patient safety, as evidenced by the “A” grades the facility received in 2015 and 2016 for patient safety. Here, constant surveillance of patients and the prompt identification of possible infection risks are facilitated by a strong chain of communication to reduce instances of infection, which can be credited to Florida Hospital Carrollwood’s team-oriented approach and robust use of technology and other automated solutions, according to HIMSS Analytics.

“Florida Hospital Carrollwood presented an impressive infection-prevention program driven by analytics strategy. They have used analytics to implement EMR process interventions that have resulted in a significant decrease in the number of infections over the last year. They are not focused on the information technology itself; they are focused on how best to use it to drive improvements across the organization,” said Daniels of HIMSS Analytics.

Both Florida patient care organizations will be recognized at the 2017 HIMSS Conference & Exhibition on Feb. 19-23, 2017, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.