Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Takes Stage 7

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (of UPMC) is the first children’s hospital to receive the HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 Award.

According to HIMSS Analytics: “Now housed on its new campus that opened in May 2009, Children’s Hospital offers advanced technology  throughout the hospital system with its EMR operating in a fully digital environment. Children’s Hospital’s clinical workflow design supports the elimination of paper charts at the bedside, on the care units, or in a hospital file room. Staff understand how to use the EMR and are comfortable in their use of technology. The hospital has integrated efforts to provide clinicians with all needed information to see the patient’s continuum of care in a single view.”

The award represents attainment of the highest level on the EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM). HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of EMRs for hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database.  Tracking their progress in completing eight stages (0-7), hospitals can review the implementation and utilization of information technology applications with the intent of reaching Stage 7, which represents an advanced electronic patient record environment.

Stage 7 hospitals:

• Deliver patient care without the use of paper charts;
• Are able to share patient information by sending secure standardized summary record transactions to other care providers;
• Use their vast database of clinical information to drive improved care delivery performance, patient safety clinical decision support, and outcomes using business intelligence solutions;
• Are best practice examples of how to implement sophisticated EMR environments that fully engage their clinicians.

The validation process that confirms a hospital has reached Stage 7 includes a site visit conducted by an executive from HIMSS Analytics and two current chief information officers to ensure an unbiased evaluation of the Stage 7 environments.