NEWPORT — Most wired hospitals use technology to partner with patients on their health, and this is the second consecutive year that North Country Hospital has been named a “Most Wired” hospital.
In 2016, the hospital received the accolade in the “Small and Rural” category as a frontrunner among smaller community hospitals. This year North Country received the commendation of “Most Wired – Most Improved,” and their efforts were compared with that of hospitals of all sizes across the country.
“It is an honor for North Country Hospital to be recognized for our advancements in Information Technology,” said Kate Pierce, Executive Director of Clinical Information Systems. “Organizationally, we have made great strides in improving access to information for our clinical staff, which ultimately improves the care we provide to our patients.”
Technology is making it easier for patients and providers to interact, improving communication, safety, and patient-provider relationships.
New tools are helping patients become more actively involved in their care and maintaining their health, according to results of the 19th Annual Health Care’s Most Wired® survey, released by the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Health Forum this week.
“The Most Wired hospitals are using every available technology option to create more ways to reach their patients in order to provide access to care,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “They are transforming care delivery, investing in new delivery models in order to improve quality, provide access and control costs.”
According to the survey, Most Wired hospitals are using smart phones, telehealth and remote monitoring to create more ways for patients to access health care services and capture health information.
North Country Hospital has a lot of this access already in place, such as secure messaging with clinicians on mobile devices, patients making prescription renewal requests on mobile devices, and adding data reported by patients to the electronic health record to get a better picture of what is going on with each individual patient.
Technology in healthcare is doing so much more than transitioning from paper medical records to electronic. It is opening up more and more opportunities and access to resources that were previously not available, especially at a rural hospital like North Country.
“As healthcare information systems continue to advance, we believe more changes will follow,” Pierce added. “For example, patient portal and telehealth usage will increase as we continue to focus on preventive healthcare. Eventually, these advancements will lead to lowering overall costs as advanced technology becomes the norm.”
North Country Hospital says they will continue to take advantage of the opportunities that technology provides to help the community remain healthy and strong.
The efforts at North Country Hospital to embrace technological change is leading to improved care by creating better connections between patients and providers, providing tools for patients that help them take a more interactive role in their health and health decisions, and ultimately leading to a healthier community.
I will agree that this area is very lucky to have the expertise and personnel that we have with NCH. From having our rural area covered by the people who are fully trained manning our emergency vehicles, an emergency room equal to any situation anytime called on! We are very lucky we have such a dedicated and professional team at hand when each of use might need that help at any time, day or night.
Thank you for putting in the long hours doing your job, the hours of training you put in to just keep up with today’s Technologies in medicine and your care for all of us that relies on you if the need ever does come our way for your services!