Using Technology to Improve Patient Outcomes

For a second year, Hancock Regional Hospital has earned national recognition for excellence in IT and been named Most Wired hospital by the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum. This is a big deal!

Results from Health Care’s Most Wired® survey show how technology is improving the efficiency of care delivery and creating a new dynamic in patient interactions.

What does this mean?

Technology is only as good as the people who build and use it. Hospitals were scored on how they use IT for everything from electronic health records, billing, discharging patients and ordering prescriptions. The survey weighs the level of connectivity, automation, access, and security of nearly every kind of record, transaction, or exchange between physicians, staff, patients, and other providers in the community.

Here are just three ways Hancock Health uses technology:

1. Access to information through HealthConnect, our patient portal – Once you create an account, you can see test results, communicate with your physician, and pay bills, among other things. Patients will be able to schedule appointments toward the end of the year.
2. Real-time notifications – When information is put into an Electronic Medical Record, clinicians get real-time notifications that help them make decisions. For example:
   • When putting in a Labor and Delivery Summary for a baby born at 34 weeks, the provider will be prompted to consider certain medications for preemies.
   • When a heart patient is being discharged, the system will confirm whether they’ve been given beta blockers.
3. Share records amongst providers – If your child goes to the ER, your pediatrician and other providers in network, such as a mental health provider, will be notified. Likewise, the ER will have access to your records, such as known allergies, medications, or medical conditions, and even notes from other providers that can be used to determine treatment quickly.

Our IT team works closely with clinicians to manage our technology and determine which ones will improve health outcomes and patient experiences. We give each other constant feedback.

What technologies, apps or other things do you use to manage your healthcare? Do you have a fitness tracker? Have you noticed new technologies at doctor’s appointments? How have they helped? What new technologies would you like to see?