University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Named One of 100 Most Wired Hospitals in the United States
PITTSBURGH, April 21, 2000 — For the second year in a row, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has been named one of the 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems in the United States for the way it uses technology to serve its patients, doctors, nurses and employees. The designation is the result of an annual survey conducted by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center continues an aggressive information technology initiative designed to dramatically improve the community health status by improving the quality of care, increasing the access to care and decreasing the cost of health care. "We want to empower our patients by providing a more informed, interactive health care experience over the Internet," said Dan Drawbaugh, chief information officer in the health system's Information Services Division. "Over the next five years we will invest more than $500 million upgrading our technologies to meet the needs of our various publics."
According to the magazine, the most wired hospital systems give patients online access to more information about chronic conditions from AIDS to diabetes to substance abuse, conduct business with suppliers online, and do a better job of connecting their physicians and nurses to clinical information. To determine inclusion on the list, the magazine annually surveys organizations about what they attempt to accomplish online, how many of those activities are actually implemented and which technologies are used.