HIMSS Analytics, the research arm of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), has announced that four hospitals in the Bon Secours Health System, located throughout Virginia, have received the acute care Stage 7 award.
The award represents attainment of the highest level on the Electronic Medical Records Adoption Model (EMRAM), which is used to track EMR progress at hospitals and health systems. Earlier in the year, 31 Bon Secours ambulatory clinics earned the Stage 7 Ambulatory award.
Bon Secours Virginia provides healthcare to thousands of Virginians through a network of hospitals, primary and specialty care practices, ambulatory care sites, and continuing care facilities across the Commonwealth. The not-for-profit health system employs about 13,000 people, including nearly 400 physicians as part of the Bon Secours Medical Group.
HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of EMR 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.
The four hospitals that achieved Stage 7 include: Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, Mechanicsville; Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital, Richmond; Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center, Midlothian; and Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital, Richmond.
During the third quarter of 2013, 2.2 percent, of the more than 5,400 U.S. hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics database, received the HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 Award.
“Stage 7 certification of Bon Secours’ EHR in our Richmond hospitals, coupled with this designation for our ambulatory sites, highlights our successful investment in information technology to transform health delivery,” Peter Bernard, Bon Secours executive vice president of business development and CEO of the Bon Secours Virginia Health System, said in a statement. “Our ‘one patient, one record’ approach supports our goals for high quality care and patient safety in the communities we serve.”
Bon Secours will be recognized at the 2014 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition on Feb. 24-26, 2014, in Orlando, Fla.
