HIMSS Analytics has awarded Truman Medical Center (TMC) in Kansas City, Mo., with the Stage 7 Award, the highest level of achievement in electronic health record adoption.

“The board and executive management at Truman Medical Center have developed a strong corporate drive to optimize investment in IT to improve quality and efficiency,” said John Hoyt, executive vice president of HIMSS Analytics. “Truman Medical Center also has a commendably aggressive program to eliminate paper, as physicians electronically document history and physicals, progress notes, consultation notes, discharge summaries and provider documentation in the emergency department.”   

TMC President and CEO John W. Bluford said the Stage 7 status is the highlight of the center’s health IT adoption process. “TMC has been consistently ahead of the curve, not just for safety nets, but all hospitals, when it comes to investing in the implementation of an electronic medical record system,” he said. This is an effort that would have not been possible without the continued support of our medical staff and board leadership.”

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“While the electronic medical record system helps us to provide top quality care with state-of-the-art technology, and at the same time improve the efficiency of our clinical staff, the most important achievement has been the demonstrable increase in patient safety and quality outcomes,” Bluford noted.

HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model 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.

Truman Medical Center is a nearly 600-bed, two-hospital, not-for-profit healthcare system serving the greater Kansas City metropolitan area and is the largest provider of uncompensated care in the State of Missouri, with more than $130 million in the last fiscal year.

Truman Medical Center will be recognized with the award at the 2013 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans on March 3-7, 2013.

[See also: HIMSS Analytics launches EMRAM for ambulatory practices.]