Investment in informatics pays off for OhioHealth Doctors Hospital

Capabilities to use clinical data results in EMRAM Stage 7 Award from HIMSS Analytics.


OhioHealth Doctors Hospital has invested heavily in informatics resources to optimize its use of digital healthcare systems, and it’s achieved results that earned it the highest ranking on the HIMSS Analytics scale that measures sophistication in the use of electronic health records.

The Columbus, Ohio-based facility received a Stage 7 designation from HIMSS Analytics this week. The ranking is the highest on HIMSS Analytics’ EMR Adoption Model scale, which measures a hospital’s implementation and utilization of IT applications. Stage 7 represents an advanced patient record environment, the organization says.



OhioHealth Doctors Hospital, a 213-bed teaching hospital, belongs to OhioHealth, a not-for-profit charitable healthcare organization with Methodist roots. Based in Columbus, OhioHealth consists of 11 hospitals and more than 50 ambulatory sites; it offers a variety of ancillary services, including hospice, home-health, medical equipment and other health services offered throughout a 47-county area.

“It was clear during our visit to Doctors Hospital that OhioHealth has fostered a data-driven culture,” said John H. Daniels, global vice president of the healthcare advisory services group of HIMSS Analytics.

“They invested heavily in informatics resources, including creating a new corporate nurse executive position, hiring 10 nurse informaticists, a clinical pharmacist informaticist and launching a physician envoy program with 19 physicians of multiple specialties, all focused on optimizing their use of IT across the enterprise,” Daniels added.

HIMSS Analytics validates a facility’s worthiness of receiving the Stage 7 designation through a site visit, to get an unbiased evaluation of IT capabilities.

“Reaching the highest level of adoption for an electronic medical record speaks to the highly skilled team of physicians, nurses, IT professionals and associates that we have at OhioHealth Doctors Hospital,” said Marcy Conti, chief nursing officer and vice president of operations at OhioHealth Doctors Hospital.

“Mastering a new system that provides immediate patient information to all providers allows us to provide that next level of superior patient care. To quickly achieve this recognition demonstrates Doctors Hospital’s commitment to providing excellent service and quality care to those we serve.”

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