University Times

UPMC has won a number of awards recently.

• U.S. News & World Report’s 2005 Best Hospitals Survey placed UPMC 13th, higher than any other hospital in Pennsylvania.

UPMC also was among the country’s 16 leading hospitals that earned a place on the magazine’s honor roll out of more than 6,000 eligible institutions. UPMC has been on the honor roll for six of the last seven years.

UPMC hospitals were ranked in 14 of 17 specialty areas. UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside ranked among the “top hospitals” in 12 specialties; Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh was ranked in pediatrics, and Magee-Womens Hospital was ranked in gynecology. UPMC ranked among the top 10 in three areas: cancer; ear, nose and throat, and psychiatry.

The specific specialty ratings for UPMC are as follows: 10th in cancer; 14th in digestive disorders; 6th in ear, nose and throat; 19th in geriatrics; 17th in gynecology (Magee); 13th in kidney disease; 17th in neurology and neurosurgery; 13th in orthopaedics; 14th in pediatrics (Children’s); 9th in psychiatry (Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic is included in UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside); 26th in rehabilitation; 16th in respiratory disorders; 12th in rheumatology; 31st in urology.

No other Pittsburgh hospitals are ranked in any specialty area.

• CIO magazine named UPMC as a recipient of the 2005 CIO 100 award. The annual award program recognizes organizations around the world that exemplify the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology (IT).

The recipients of this year’s CIO 100 award were selected through a three-step process. Companies filled out an on line application form detailing their bold practices in both business and IT. Teams of CIO magazine editors and writers reviewed the applications, looking for unique practices and substantial results.

The award underscores UPMC’s expertise in IT as evidenced by its leadership in the telemedicine, electronic health records and patient safety programming, CIO officials said.

Recently, UPMC and IBM entered into an eight-year, $402 million joint development agreement to address two of the biggest problems facing health care today: quality and costs. In addition, the two organizations have agreed to invest up to an additional $150 million in developing new products that address difficult quality and patient safety issues.

UPMC also has committed approximately $500 million to develop and deploy information technology initiatives. The UPMC electronic medical records initiative, called eRecord, encompasses a broad range of electronic clinical applications that give doctors, nurses and other caregivers the ability to instantly access important patient information.

• For the seventh year in a row, UPMC has been named one of the 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems in the United States, according to the 2005 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study, by Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association.

UPMC is one of only nine organizations nationwide that have made the list for all seven years the awards have recognized “technically savvy” hospitals.

The 2005 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study measures hospitals on their use of information technologies for quality, customer service, public health and safety, business processes and workforce issues.