Local public hospitals are working hard to put systems in place that increase medication safety, but so far these efforts are bypassing physicians, according to data from the 2007 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study. Only 4 percent of doctors at local public hospitals order medications electronically, compared with 2 percent at least wired and 36 percent at Most Wired hospitals. However, the percentage of nurses electronically entering medication orders exceeds the percentages for both other groups. As in other financially challenged hospitals with nearly 80 percent independent physicians, local public organizations are relying on their nurses to implement safety tools. The percentage of medications electronically matched at the bedside—28 percent—is another example of their commitment to safe nursing practices.

While portal usage at local public hospitals still significantly lags behind Most Wired organizations, public hospitals lead least wired hospitals. Portals can be an interim solution for an organization that plans to expand IT capabilities while increasing physicians’ comfort levels.

On the business side, the data reveal that local public hospitals are putting less energy into project analysis than their Most Wired peers. They may lack the time to devote to this process, making reactive rather than proactive technology decisions. This can backfire at budget time because they aren’t able to justify IT investments to their boards. Also, these hospitals are strong in automating every revenue transaction except denial management. This is a costly, unexpected breakdown in the revenue cycle and delays much-needed revenue.

*Most Wired: Aggregate data for the 100 highest scoring respondents; **Least wired: Aggregate data for the 100 lowest scoring respondents; ***Local public hospitals: Aggregate data for local public hospitals; Source: H&HN’s Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study, 2007

This article first appeared in the Winter issue of HHN's Most Wired Magazine.

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