The Most Wired Survey Shows That Growing Demand of Technologies Paves the Way for Transformation in Healthcare Delivery and Charts Course for Heightened Cybersecurity in Nation’s Hospitals

Results Show How Digital Platforms Drive Dramatic Changes in Healthcare Delivery for Improved Patient Engagement

NASHVILLE, TN – July 19, 2017 — The American Hospital Association’s 19th annual HealthCare’s Most Wired® benchmarking study and survey, sponsored by Clearwater Compliance, shows how technology and digital health tools play a crucial role across the healthcare and hospital industry with a major impact on driving patient engagement and improving diagnosis, safety, access to care, treatment, and communications. Technology innovations in patient care underscore the need for secure patient information exchange and wireless medical devices, with an increase in the use of sophisticated IT monitoring systems to detect patient privacy breaches and monitor for malicious activities.
“The 2017 Most Wired Survey results demonstrate the growing awareness by the hospital C-suite that cybersecurity is no longer just an IT problem, but a corporate-wide risk management issue tied to quality and patient safety,” said Bob Chaput, CEO of Clearwater Compliance. “The Most Wired hospitals face challenges around the proliferation of data-collecting devices, ensuring data availability and protecting patient privacy with the need to have a strategic approach and model. The current risk environment for hospitals and health systems is changing quickly and includes a wide spectrum of threats — ranging from traditional intrusions designed to steal protected health information (PHI) to more novel attacks, such as tampering with biomedical devices or blocking access to essential records systems. The changing threat environment blurs the lines between information security and patient safety and requires each discipline to expand its scope. This survey shows hospital leaders are investing in information risk management security as they understand the evolving vulnerabilities that go along with today’s drive for the mainstream adoption of digital health tools, technology options and platforms with the availability of patient data.”

“The Most Wired hospitals are using every available technology option to create more ways to reach their patients in order to provide access to care,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “They are transforming care delivery, investing in new delivery models in order to improve quality, provide access and control costs.”

According to the American Hospital Association’s 2017 survey, Most Wired hospitals are using smart phones, telehealth and remote monitoring to create more ways for patients to access healthcare services and capture health information. For cybersecurity:

  • 97 percent use intrusion detection systems.
  • 96 percent perform data access audits.
  • Nearly 90 percent run targeted phishing exercises to teach employees to question suspicious emails.

In addition, this year’s results show:

  • 76 percent offer secure messaging with clinicians on mobile devices.
  • When patients need ongoing monitoring at home, 74 percent use secure emails for patients and families to keep in touch with the care team.
  • 68 percent simplify prescription renewals by letting patients make requests on mobile devices.
  • 62 percent add data reported by patients to the electronic health record to get a better picture of what is going on with the patient.
  • Nearly half of the hospitals are using telehealth to provide behavioral health services to more patients.
  • 40 percent offer virtual physician visits.

The survey of 698 participants, representing an estimated 2,158 hospitals — more than 39 percent of all hospitals in the U.S. — examines how organizations are leveraging IT to improve performance for value-based healthcare in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management; quality and safety; and clinical integration. Clearwater Compliance, a leading provider of hospital cybersecurity and compliance solutions, is the exclusive sponsor of the 19th annual Healthcare Most Wired® benchmarking study and survey, a strategic tool that helps hospitals and health systems to continually increase their technology operational efficiency and high performance enhancements.

The Most Wired Survey looks at how hospitals and health systems are leveraging information technology to improve patient care and efficiency for value-based healthcare and implementing information technology (IT) strategies essential for future delivery systems. Through this benchmarking study and survey, hospital organizations, at no cost, can gain insights by benchmarking their IT priorities and capabilities against the industry to help exceed industry standards.

Detailed results of the survey and study can be found in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN). For a full list of winners, visit hhnmag.com.

HealthCare’s Most Wired® survey, conducted between Jan. 15 and March 15, 2017, is published annually by H&HN. The 2017 Most Wired® survey and benchmarking study is a leading industry barometer measuring information technology (IT) use and adoption among hospitals nationwide.

About Clearwater Compliance
Clearwater Compliance, LLC is a leading provider of critical infrastructure regulatory compliance and cybersecurity management solutions. Its mission is to empower customers to successfully manage the evolving information security risk landscape. Clearwater solutions have been employed by hundreds of customers including the Fortune 100 and federal government. More information about Clearwater Compliance is at: Clearwatercompliance.com.

About the Most Wired Survey
The 2017 Most Wired Survey is conducted in cooperation with the American Hospital Association and Clearwater Compliance, LLC.

About the American Hospital Association
The AHA is a not-for-profit association of healthcare provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the improvement of health in their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, healthcare systems, networks and other providers of care. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for healthcare leaders and is a source of information on healthcare issues and trends. For more information, visit aha.org.

Contact
Clearwater Compliance, LLC
Kelly Motley
615.483.0365
Kelly.Motley@Clearwatercompliance.com