Tucson Medical Center has received the highest rating for adoption of electronic medical record-keeping from a national ratings group, the hospital said today.
TMC's extensive use of electronic records shows how such systems can improve patient safety and treatment, said an official of HIMSS Analytics, a non-profit group that rates hospitals' progress in adopting e-records.
The Stage 7 Award that TMC received from HIMSS Analytics represents the highest rating for use of the EMR Adoption Model, which is used to track electronic recordkeeping progress at hospitals and health systems.
TMC is the first hospital in Arizona and one of 57 hospitals, or 1 percent of the more than 5,000 hospitals in the HIMSS database, recognized with a Stage 7 Award.
The hospital will be recognized for the award next February at the annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas.
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Frank Marini, TMC vice president and chief information officer, said TMC has demonstrated that effective use of electronic recordkeeping improves care delivery.
“These systems have so much potential to streamline processes and to ensure caregivers have the accurate and timely patient information they need,” Marini said in prepared remarks.
HIMSS Analytics, a non-profit subsidiary of the Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of e-record systems use by hospitals.
Hospitals are tracked on their progress in completing eight stages (0 through 7) toward the model adoption, with Stage 7 representing the most advanced use of patient records.
The review process includes a site visit by an executive from HIMSS Analytics and former or current chief information officers to ensure an unbiased evaluation.
John P. Hoyt, an executive vice president of HIMSS, said in a prepared statement that TMC "exemplifies the patient safety and clinical outcomes of Stage 7 hospitals, especially with its strong quality improvement and disaster recovery systems."
He cited and the finding that 90 percent of TMC's provider orders are computerized, calling it “a hallmark of its totally paperless environment.”