St. Luke's University Health Network has been recognized in the "Most Wired" category for the second year in a row in the 16th annual Health Care's Most Wired Survey, conducted by Hospitals & Health Network (H&HN).

As the nation's health care system transitions to more integrated and patient-centered care, hospitals are utilizing information technology to better connect disparate care providers.

For instance, 67 percent of Most Wired hospitals share critical patient information electronically with specialists and other care providers. Most Wired hospitals, those that meet a set of rigorous criteria across four operational categories, have made tremendous gains by using instructional technology to reduce the likelihood of medical errors. Among Most Wired hospitals, 81 percent of medications are matched to the patient, nurse and order via bar code technology at the bedside.

"St. Luke's has been ahead of the curve in implementing information systems and technology to support excellent delivery of care for our patients," said Chad Brisendine, Chief Information Officer, St. Luke's University Health Network.

In early 2013, St. Luke's was the first hospital-health network in the Lehigh Valley to reach Stage 6 in the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model.

Among some of the key findings related to improving quality and patient safety:

Nurses and physicians share best practices for patient safety and use checklists at more than 90 percent of Most Wired organizations.

To help consumers make better decisions about their health care, standard measures of individual hospital quality performance are reported and publicly available. Nearly half of Most Wired organizations share this information on their websites and 86 percent provide quality scores to clinical leaders on a regular basis as part of their performance improvement initiatives.

To that end, nearly all participants in the Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study have an established health IT project governance process and evaluate existing workflow processes and desired outcomes.

The 2014 Most Wired Survey covered the evolution of new models and payment from the IT perspective. As health care delivery moves to a value-based system, it will require more and better use of data analytics, care coordination and population health management.

Health Care's Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study, conducted between Jan. 15 and March 15, asked hospitals and health systems nationwide to answer questions regarding their IT initiatives. Respondents completed 680 surveys, representing 1,900 hospitals, or more than 30 percent of all Unite States hospitals.

The July H&HN cover story detailing results is available at hhnmag.com.