University Times

Children’s Hospital has been recognized by KLAS, an independent health care research organization, as the leader in the use of health care information technology among pediatric hospitals in the United States.

KLAS interviewed leaders at virtually every U.S. hospital that reported physicians and nurses actively using commercially available software to order and chart under an organized program sponsored by the hospital, said KLAS founder Kent Gale.

“This is only the third time in 12 years that KLAS has recognized a specific health care organization for the depth of adoption of electronic health records,” Gale said.

The new Children’s Hospital is reported to be one of the most advanced digital hospitals in the country and among the first with a fully integrated electronic health record. Children’s Hospital began its implementation of an electronic health record in 2001 when it became one of the first hospitals in the nation to adopt a computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system.

KLAS’s determination of Children’s leadership position was based on a number of factors, including the percentage of possible physicians using CPOE, the percentage of possible orders submitted via CPOE, the percentage of physicians entering notes and documenting using an electronic health record, a fully shared record between inpatient and ambulatory, the percentage of hospital beds where bar code technology is used for medication administration and the percentage of nurses charting and documenting electronically.