2007 International Citations

The Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study was opened up to international applicants this year. These three organizations received the Most Wired International Citation of Merit.

Kameda Medical Center
Located in Kamogawa City, Japan, Kameda Medical Center has a 350-year history spanning 11 generations of the Kameda family. There are three hospitals and 1,000 operating beds. The emergency department receives 30,000 visits annually while outpatient visits total 750,000 a year. By law, Kameda (as well as all Japanese hospitals) must operate as a not-for-profit entity and adhere to a national fee structure, a challenge for any organization as it pertains to cost and quality. Still, Kameda found a cost-friendly way to develop a completely integrated filmless and paperless electronic medical record system. All physicians and nurses access the system on a daily basis and can do so from anywhere thanks to a Web-based portal.

Hermitage Medical Clinic
Operational since January 2007 in Dublin, Ireland, Hermitage Medical Clinic is an acute care facility with 101 beds and seven operating rooms. The majority of health care in Ireland is public, and Hermitage is one of only three private hospitals to open in the last 20 years. As such, the hospital was able to realize an integrated information system from the beginning. Physicians and surgeons have online access to clinical information and diagnostic images at any hospital workstation, including at the bedside and in operating rooms. Because of the high level of technology implemented at Hermitage, recruiting IT-experienced staff presented a challenge. Through international recruitment, a multinational staff has been formed.

Hospital de Fuenlabrada
Hospital de Fuenlabrada in Madrid is breaking away from the mold of a traditional Spanish hospital by adopting a public enterprise management model. Established in 2002, the hospital serves about 250,000 patients a year with a staff of 1,400, 70 percent of whom are women. The hospital is leading the way in Spain with a complex information system that bridges the processes between primary care and specialty care. Hospital de Fuenlabrada has reduced the time a patient receives a consultation to when they receive a radiology test from six days to two.

This article 1st appeared in the July 2007 issue of HHN Magazine.

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