For the fourth consecutive year, ChristianaCare has earned the “Most Wired” designation from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), which recognizes health care organizations that demonstrate the best practices through their adoption, implementation and use of information technology.
ChristianaCare earned the award in Most Wired’s new ambulatory category – which recognizes outpatient practices that demonstrate excellence in health care IT – as well as its hospital category, for both Christiana Hospital and Wilmington Hospital.
“We are leaning confidently and deliberately into a future where all care will be digital – except that which cannot be – and all care will be home-based – except that which cannot be,” said Randall Gaboriault, MS, chief digital and information officer at ChristianaCare. “That digital imperative is our organizational imperative, and it reinforces why we are relentlessly focused on leveraging technologies to forge deep connections with our neighbors to help them achieve their personal health goals.”
ChristianaCare’s place on the forefront of IT trends is the product of both a long-term investment in culture and a reimagining of IT processes, creating an environment in which good ideas can rapidly progress from concept to impact.
ChristianaCare’s use of transformational technologies to improve patient care includes:
Video monitoring to help protect hospital patients from falls.
Telemedicine advancements, including video visits with clinicians.
Direct access by patients to the physician notes in their electronic health record, and the ability to contribute to their record through an online patient portal.
Online express check-in at ChristianaCare’s five urgent care centers.
Exemplifying ChristianaCare’s effective use of technology to serve its neighbors is the organization’s electronic health record system, which enables providers to have access to all of a patient’s medical information, regardless of whether they show up at one of ChristianaCare’s primary care or specialty practices, hospitals, labs or emergency departments. It’s a concept that ChristianaCare’s IT team refers to as “one patient, one chart, one experience.”
For the third year in a row, Christiana Care Health System has earned the Most Wired designation from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, recognizing healthcare organizations that exemplify best practices through their adoption, implementation and use of information technology.
Christiana Care is the only healthcare organization in Delaware and one of only 5 percent of U.S. hospitals to receive this designation.
The recognition is the result of years of strategic planning with a focus on how technology can break down barriers to access and coordinate high-value care. For example, Christiana Care has introduced Health Records on iPhone, which brings together hospitals, outpatient services and the existing Apple Health app to make it easy for patients to see their available medical records from multiple providers whenever they choose.
Randall Gaboriault
“Technology touches every single interaction we have with our patients, and it creates an efficient way for us to connect with our neighbors and deliver the world’s best care, powered by a foundation of technology and empathy,” said Randall Gaboriault, MS, chief information officer and senior vice president of Innovation and strategic development at Christiana Care.
Christiana Care’s place on the forefront of IT trends and best practices is the result of both a long-term investment in culture and a reimagining of IT processes, creating an environment in which good ideas can rapidly progress from concept to impact.
Lynne McCone
“Our Clinical and IT teams have developed and persistently iterate a model of shared thinking, shared learning and shared working to deliver projects that expand our capabilities to serve our neighbors in ways we had hardly imagined a few years earlier,” said Lynne McCone, vice president of IT application services for Christiana Care.
Christiana Care’s use of transformational technologies to improve patient care includes:
Video monitoring to help protect hospital patients from falls.
Telemedicine advancements, including video visits.
Direct access by patients to the physician notes in their electronic health record, and the ability to contribute to their record through an online patient portal.
Online express check-in at Christiana Care’s six Medical Aid Units.
Christiana Care’s Patient Portal, already recognized as a secure way for patients to stay informed about their health records, now offers patients a chance to enter their problems, allergies, medications, immunizations and surgical history. Upon physician review, these data flow directly into their electronic health record. Anyone who’s ever forgotten to mention a health issue to their doctor or nurse can appreciate the value of a convenient way to add to their record, thereby informing their care team.
Recognizing that healthcare providers need to transition from sick care to well care, Carolinas HealthCare System has been aggressively pursuing a technology strategy that powers more effective patient engagement, virtual care delivery and interoperability amongst providers in the Carolinas. At the Charlotte, NC-based healthcare system, information technology professionals, clinicians, analysts and operational leaders collaborate on executing a strategy that delivers tools and technology to improve patient care, easily.
Craig D. Richardville
Spearheading these initiatives has been Craig D. Richardville, MBA, FACHE, FHIMSS, senior vice president and chief information officer. In recognition of his efforts to bring better care to patients in North and South Carolina, Richardville has been named the 2015 John E. Gall, Jr. CIO of the Year.
The award, sponsored by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and HIMSS, recognizes healthcare IT executives who have made significant contributions to their organization and demonstrated innovative leadership through effective use of technology. The boards of directors for both organizations annually select the recipient of the award, which is named in honor of the late John E. Gall Jr., who pioneered implementation of the first fully integrated medical information system in the world at California’s El Camino Hospital in the 1960s. Richardville will receive the award on March 3, 2016, at the HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas.
“I’m honored and humbled to be recognized for this award,” Richardville said. “I credit the team at Carolinas HealthCare System who has the commitment and talent to serve our patients. With this team, we’ve been able to leverage technology to improve and support the care delivered.”
Richardville has been instrumental in advancing innovative technologies for patient care. In 2013, the health system deployed one the nation’s largest virtual ICU practices. Currently, nearly 300 ICU beds in North and South Carolina were being monitored virtually. Clinicians cans also conduct virtual psychiatric visits, as well as provide care for stroke and other complicated conditions to rural communities.
In a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and 47 other of the nation’s largest healthcare provider organizations issued a joint call for additional time and flexibility in the meaningful use program to ensure its continued success.
While underscoring the meaningful use program’s invaluable role in advancing technology adoption among hospitals and physicians, the letter states that strict adherence to current program requirements endangers overall success of the EHR program, disrupts providers’ healthcare operations and potentially jeopardizes patient safety.
“Given that we have just celebrated the anniversary of HITECH, we can look back at the last five years with great pride and take stock of how far we’ve come – as an industry and as a nation,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell FCHIME, CHCIO. “But we must look ahead and recognize the immense work in front of us. Now is the time to make much-needed course corrections to ensure that we continue this success well past HITECH’s 10th anniversary.”
The letter reiterates many points made by several organizations dating back to May 2013, including letters from CHIME; the American Hospital Association (AHA); the American Medical Association (AMA); the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA); the American College of Physicians (ACP); the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP); and the National Rural Health Association (NRHA).
The latest letter, the first to be issued jointly by more than 40 organizations, comes in response to concerns that the nation’s 5,000 hospitals and 550,000 eligible professionals must adopt the latest certified versions of EHR technology and meet more difficult program requirements to remain in compliance with the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Program. Hospitals only have until July to adopt, implement, test and train staff to meet either Stage 1 or Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements in 2014. Eligible professionals have until October to begin collecting data to attest to meeting program requirements.
An enterprise-wide data warehouse and a cross-functional team approach to analyze care delivery and protocols has enabled Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston to improve care and achieve millions of dollars in savings at the same time.
Implementing electronic health records was only a starting point for the process, says Myra Davis, senior vice president and CIO for the Houston-based facility. Analyzing the data from the EHR system and other information systems in the hospital with diverse team members using visualization applications has enabled significant improvements in clinical processes, she said.
The use of the data warehouse and improved analytical processes has strong support from clinicians and research specialists, who lauded the approach’s ability to conduct research.
“It’s great to be in a meeting to slice and dice the data,” said Terri Brown, research specialist and assistant director of data support at Texas Children’s Hospital. “When it used to take three months to get a report, now within 30 minutes you have such a great understanding of the data. It takes away the false leads. It tells you what the source of truth is for how we have changed care delivery. It has been revolutionary.”
For the third year in a row, Christiana Care Health System has earned the 
In a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and 47 other of the nation’s largest healthcare provider organizations issued a joint call for additional time and flexibility in the meaningful use program to ensure its continued success.