UNC Health Care honored as “Most Wired Advanced” by American Hospital Association

Press release:

The Board of Directors and administrative team for Pardee UNC Health Care received notification this week that the UNC Health Care system is one of only 27 systems in the United States to be recognized as a “Most Wired Advanced” health care system by the American Hospital Association (AHA) for its use of information technology to improve patient care and clinical integration.

More than 460 hospitals nationwide received “Most Wired” recognition, but UNC Health Care received the additional “Most Wired Advanced” designation because it fully leverages technology in the AHA survey’s four focus areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety, and clinical integration.

The 19th Annual Health Care’s Most Wired® survey was released by the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Health Forum. UNC Health Care and Carolinas Healthcare System, based in Charlotte, are the only two health systems in North Carolina to receive the ‘Most Wired Advanced’ recognition.

“Pardee is proud to be a part of such an accomplished health system, particularly one focused on the integration of information technology to improve patient care,” said James M. Kirby, II, president and CEO of Pardee UNC Health Care. “This honor highlights the excellent work of our Information Services Division (ISD) team throughout the entire system.”

In 2012, UNC Health Care set out a vision to create an integrated electronic health record (EHR) that would provide one patient ID, one problem list, one medication list, and one bill for patients across all UNC Health Care entities. In June 2016, Pardee began implementation of the Epic@UNC electronic health record and its supporting infrastructure (including the My UNC Chart patient portal at https://myuncchart.org) into their system. Epic@UNC is in use at seven UNC Health Care hospital entities and more than 600 outpatient clinics.

“Our team has worked incredibly hard over the past several years to develop common systems for our hospitals and clinics to ensure our providers and staff have the data needed for patient care and business decisions,” said Tracy Parham, RN, UNC Health Care’s chief information officer (CIO). Sandra Tolson, UNC Health Care IT director for Pardee, spearheaded the transition at Pardee in 2016, spending months preparing staff and upgrading technology in advance of the new EHR.

UNC Health Care is an integrated health care system comprised of UNC Hospitals and its provider network (UNC Faculty Physicians), UNC Physicians Network, the clinical patient care programs of the UNC School of Medicine and nine other hospitals and hospital systems across the state. Additional hospital entities include UNC Rex Healthcare, Chatham Hospital, Johnston Health, Pardee UNC Health Care, High Point Regional Health, Caldwell Memorial, Nash Health Care, Wayne Memorial and UNC Lenoir Health Care.

Pardee UNC Health Care is a not-for-profit community hospital founded in 1953 and is managed by UNC Health Care. The hospital is licensed for 222 acute care beds. Pardee has several locations separate from the main campus, including a comprehensive physician practice network, two urgent care locations and five orthopedic clinics. For more information or to find a physician, visit pardeehospital.