Health system honored for advances in information technology
MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC) has been named one of the nation’s Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems, according to results of the 2011 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study. These results were published in the July issue of the American Hospital Association’s Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN) magazine.
“Loyola is honored to be recognized for the advances we have made in information technology,” said Art Krumrey, vice president and chief information officer, LUMC. “These innovations have allowed the organization to better communicate with our patients and provide quality care that goes beyond the bedside.”
LUMC was one of the 154 organizations named Most Wired of the 1,388 hospitals that applied. This award marks the ninth time LUMC has been named to the list.
Hospitals are named to the list based on progress in adoption, implementation and use of information technology in infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety and care continuum.
Among the reasons LUMC was included on the list was its ongoing investment in electronic health records. LUMC is among a small percentage of institutions that fully use electronic health records. The technology allows physicians to receive patient test results and communications from other physicians more quickly and easily through electronic inboxes. LUHS recently became one of a small group to earn more than $2 million in funding from the federal government for Loyola University Hospital’s first stage of using electronic health records in a meaningful way.
The organization also launched a portal in the last year to directly link outside referring physicians to LUMC specialists and their patients’ record. LUMC also became the first in the west and southwest suburbs to allow patients to see test results, communicate with their doctors and make appointments online through an application called myLoyola Select®. This service is free and has apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
“The myLoyola Select connection empowers patients to be more involved with their health care,” said Dr. Keith Veselik, medical director of Primary Care. "It facilitates communication between the patient and the doctor's office, and eliminates phone tag."
Loyola University Health System (LUHS) is a member of Trinity Health. Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, LUHS is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and more than 30 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 569-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children’s Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb campus in Melrose Park includes the 264-licensed-bed community hospital, the Professional Office Building housing 150 private practice clinics, the Adult Day Care, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness, Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care and the Loyola Cancer Care & Research at the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center at Melrose Park.