Hospital selected as a 2010 Most Wired and Most Wireless award winner

For the 11th year, Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) has been selected as one of the Most Wired Hospitals in the nation by Hospitals and Health Networks, a trade magazine published by the American Hospital Association. YNHH was also selected for the seventh year as a Most Wireless award winner.

This recognition is based on technology advancements made by organizations to enhance patient safety, clinical quality and customer service in healthcare centers.

The nation's Most Wired hospitals have demonstrated better outcomes in four key areas - infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety and care continuum.

"Yale New Haven Hospital is committed to enhanced information technology because of it's correlation to positive patient outcomes," said Mark Andersen, YNHH senior vice president and chief information officer. "We believe that listening to our patients, utilizing their valuable feedback and input and finding ways to meet their needs through information system upgrades makes their experiences as positive as possible."

Some recent technology-related improvements at YNHH include:

• Successful transition to hospital-wide on-line, electronic medical record with the opening of Smilow Cancer Hospital last October.
• Enhanced bed management initiatives to improve patient admissions and reduce waiting times.
• Deployed over 350 wireless Workstations on Wheels and netbooks to support real-time clinical documentation.

Hospitals and Health Networks polls the nation's hospitals on the use of information technology, based on responses from 555 hospitals and health systems that completed the survey, representing 1,280 hospitals. This award and recognition comes after HIMSS Analytics, a subsidiary of Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) scored Yale New Haven Hospital among the top 1 percent of U.S. hospitals for its clinicians' use of electronic medical entry and other advanced uses of technology that contribute to safe patient care and treatment.

Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), part of Yale New Haven Health, is a nationally recognized, 1,541-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). Founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826, today, YNHH has two New Haven-based campuses, and also includes Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor of nursing excellence. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. www.ynhh.org