CHICAGO (Monday, July 10, 2006) - The nation's 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems are helping consumers take charge of their health care by providing more tools via the Internet, according to results from the eighth annual Most Wired Survey. Among the findings:
* 64 percent of Most Wired hospitals provide online health coaching for obesity, smoking and chronic conditions;
* 49 percent of Most Wired hospitals allow patients to pre-register for services from scheduling tests to appointments on-line;
* 32 percent of Most Wired hospitals allow patients to check test results online; and
* 22 percent of hospitals provide patients the opportunity to visit a physician virtually.


"Consumers are doing everything from booking travel to managing their finances from their living rooms. The Most Wired hospitals provide the same opportunities with health care," says Alden Solovy, executive editor of Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association (AHA). "This will become the new house-call."

The nation's 100 Most Wired are also using information technology to improve quality, satisfaction and patient care by investing in technology to streamline business and clinical practices; to improve patient safety; and to improve clinical outcomes, as follows:
* 99 percent of the Most Wired hospitals provide digital radiology images in the hospital inpatient setting, compared with 72 percent of the Least Wired hospitals (defined as the 100 hospitals scoring lowest on the survey);
* 92 percent of the medical records at Most Wired hospitals are available digitally, compared with 61 percent at Least Wired hospitals; and
* 36 percent of medications are ordered electronically by physicians in Most Wired hospitals, compared with 2 percent among Least Wired hospitals.

"As consumers become increasingly involved in their health care decisions, the Most Wired hospitals are providing the technology infrastructure necessary to address their needs," said Lewis Redd, managing director of Accenture's Health & Life Sciences Provider practice in North America. "This investment in clinical systems technology helps enable high performing providers to deliver higher quality results and better service to their patients and consumers."

"Connected care often leads to better care, driven by the adoption of technologies that help to enhance decision-making and caregiver coordination," says Pamela Pure, president of McKesson Provider Technologies. "Over the next five years, we expect to see significant growth in the use of technology that also enhances collaboration outside the hospital, and that makes the consumer and patient experience more convenient and connected."

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