File Photo
Pelham Medical Center was recognized as one of the Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems for 2015.
PMC was one of seven South Carolina hospitals awarded as a result of the 17th annual Healthcare’s Most Wired survey released by the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum and College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
“Our systems enable our physicians in the hospital to easily access your office records to ensure you receive the highest-quality care. Access to those hospital records allow your primary care physician to ensure your after-hospital care is as effective as possible,” said Tony Kouskolekas, president of Pelham Medical Center.
“In this day and age, an additional attribute is keeping patients’ information safe. We have implemented many electronic and automated checks and balances to ensure optimal security and patient care,” said Kouskolekas. “We reached this point by making a concerted effort to work closely with our medical staff and IT resources, with the patient always at the forefront of our discussions.”
The survey of 741 participants, representing more than 2,213 hospitals, examined 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.
Top growth areas in security among this year’s Most Wired organizations include privacy audit systems, provisioning systems, data loss prevention, single sign-on and identity management. The survey also found:
• 96 percent of the organizations use intrusion detection systems compared to 85 percent of all respondents. Privacy audit systems (94 percent) and security incident event management (93 percent) are also widely used.
• 79 percent of the organizations conduct incident response exercises or tabletop tests annually, a high-level estimate of the current potential for success of a cyber security incident response plan, compared to 37 percent of all responding hospitals.
• 83 percent of the organizations report that hospital board oversight of risk management and reduction includes cyber security risk.
• PMC is part of the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.