TARPON SPRINGS – HIMSS Analytics announced in December that Florida Hospital North Pinellas, an Adventist Health System facility, received the HIMSS Stage 7 Award.
The award represents attainment of the highest level on the electronic medical records adoption model, which is used to track EMR progress at hospitals and health systems.
HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR adoption model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals in the HIMSS analytics database.
There are eight stages (0-7) that measure a hospital’s implementation and utilization of
information technology applications. The final stage, Stage 7, represents an advanced patient record environment. The validation process to confirm a hospital has reached Stage 7 includes a site visit by an executive from HIMSS Analytics and former or current chief information officers to ensure an unbiased evaluation of the Stage 7 environments.
“This hospital has come a long way in a very short time, after implementing 85 different systems in February 2012,” said John Hoyt, executive vice president of HIMSS Analytics.
“It is obvious to me that all staff was behind the transition to an EMR and see the value in its use,” Hoyt said. “As of December 2012, Florida Hospital North Pinellas was among the 1.9 percent of the more than 5,000 U.S. hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics database to be awarded the HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 award.”
On March 4, Florida Hospital North Pinellas was recognized at the 2013 annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans, La. Accepting the award on our behalf was Karen Owensby, Florida Hospital North Pinellas’ chief clinical officer; Janet Jones, director of clinical informatics; and Francisco Manalo, AHS-IS director.
Florida Hospital North Pinellas joins Florida Hospital Flagler as only the second hospital in the state of Florida to achieve this prestigious award, in implementing an entirely paperless system of medical records. Advantages to this level of technological advancement include the ability to share patient information with other health care providers via a secure standardized summary record and using a vast database of clinical information to improve care, patient safety and outcomes.
“Adventist Health System, through Florida Hospital North Pinellas, is leading the way in electronic medical records adoption thanks to our skilled physicians and staff,” said Bruce Bergherm, Florida Hospital North Pinellas CEO. “Locally, it takes a significant amount of time and manpower to ensure we are using the systems appropriately, something that would have been even more challenging without the support and leadership from Adventist Health System. Becoming only the second hospital in Florida to accomplish this high level of technological integration and advancement demonstrates our dedication to offering the highest quality and safest care to our patients.”
![[Image]](/content_images/070312_pco-01z_front.jpg)
