Beaufort Memorial Hospital has been named to the nation’s Top 100 Most Wired Hospitals in the U.S., according to the results of the 2011 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study released today in the July issue of Hospitals &amp; Health Networks magazine.<!--more-->
While this is Beaufort Memorial’s ninth consecutive year to make the Top 100 Most Wired list for Small &amp; Rural Hospitals, this is the second time that the hospital has been named in the Top 100 in the Nation, which includes large hospitals and academic medical centers.

“Being named one of the 100 Most Wired Hospitals in the nation is truly an honor,” says Ed Ricks, BMH VP for Information Technology. “It speaks to the level of commitment from our Board and Senior Administration to continually look at technology solutions for improving quality of care, patient safety, and business processes.

Although these are tough economic times, our leadership sees that it is important to invest wisely in technology solutions that help to create efficiencies and keep our focus on delivering quality patient care.”

Ricks points out that the selection criteria has been changed to reflect what hospitals are doing to comply with “Meaningful Use” requirements.  The fact that Beaufort memorial is among the nation’s top 100 hospitals says a lot about how we use technology to solve our clinical and business challenges.

The economic crisis is forcing many hospitals to make tough decisions with scarce resources, including delaying and scaling down information technology (IT) projects, according to a newly released survey of America’s “Most Wired” hospitals and health systems. While progress has been made and incentives to implement IT will be available through the stimulus legislation, many hospitals still have a long way to go.

The 100 Most Wired hospitals are torn between building on their IT successes and keeping a sharp eye on budgets.  Marking its 13th year, the Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study continues to lead the field in analyses and benchmarking of health care IT.

The Most Wired Survey is conducted annually by Hospitals &amp; Health Networks magazine, the journal of the AHA, which uses the results to name the 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems.