With so much focus on meeting meaningful use requirements, we sometimes forget that hospital CIOs are still finding time to innovate across a broad spectrum of applications, ranging from wireless data access to patient flow tracking. That’s why it was nice to see a handful of hospital projects again make CIO Magazine’s CIO 100 list of IT organizations that are transforming business with technology innovations.
Among the winners this year are 17-hospital OhioHealth, led by Michael Krouse, senior vice president and CIO. Its award-winning project involved digital voice recognition for radiologists. Rather than having transcribers edit their clinical recommendations, OhioHealth has radiologists dictate their interpretation and recommendations into a voice-recognized system, self-edit the dictation and sign off electronically. OhioHealth says the program provides a much faster turn-around time for x-ray image results, which improves overall patient care.
In another example, 400-bed Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier, Calif., made the list for the implementation of a new bed request system aimed at improving patient flow and decreasing Emergency Department diversions. CIO Brian Smolskis says the new system has saved valuable time for clinicians as well as increased accuracy and efficiency.
A complete list of winners, which also includes Yale-New Haven Hospital and Lehigh Valley Health Network, is available at the CIO website.
