UNC Health Care has reached Stage 7, the highest level on the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model, which measures healthcare facilities on their use of advanced analytics and health information technology. The designation applies to all UNC facilities: its hospitals, physician practices and applied analytics.

"The Stage 7 honors confirm UNC Health Care's place as a national leader in health IT and analytics," UNC leaders said in a statement. "Most importantly, these rankings represent real and meaningful benefits for our patients in terms of quality, safety, and overall care."

UNC Health Care is the only health system in the U.S. to achieve Stage 7 status on all three HIMSS Analytics domains – inpatient, outpatient and analytics.

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"Achieving Stage 7 recognition further reinforces the success our teams have reached in building an information technology infrastructure that enhances the ability of our providers, care teams, and staff to care for our patients," said UNC's Chief Information Officer Tracy Parham, RN, in a statement.

The Stage 7 designations for UNC Health Care include its hospitals and associated clinics at Caldwell Memorial Hospital in Lenoir, Chatham Hospital in Siler City, High Point Regional, Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville, UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, and UNC REX in Raleigh.

At each of these hospitals, the awards recognize the utilization of a complete EHR infrastructure, including external health information exchanges, advanced data/analytics, and comprehensive plans and support in place for information technology governance, disaster recovery, privacy, and security.

"Starting in 2012 and 2013, our focus centered on establishing system-wide information systems and building baseline capabilities," said Bill Roper, dean of the UNC School of Medicine and CEO of the UNC Health Care System. "Now, just five years later, we are recognized as national leaders in health IT by multiple organizations.

"These rankings represent real and meaningful benefits for our patients in terms of quality, safety and overall care," he added.

UNC Health Care is one of 40 health systems nationwide collaborating with Apple – and one of only 10 in the beta test group – to allow patients to easily download their electronic health record data from the My UNC Chart patient portal and integrate the data with Apple's existing personal data tracking and reporting features in the iOS Health app.

Twitter: @Bernie_HITN
Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com