LVHHN Recognized by Integrated Health Network, Again

Lehigh Valley, Pa. (August 14, 2008) – Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN) ranks in the top twenty on the 2008 Verispan IHN 100, an annual assessment of the 100 most highly integrated healthcare networks (IHNs) in the U.S. This is the seventh straight year LVHHN is ranked on this national premier rating list compiled by Yardley, Pa.-based Verispan, a healthcare information company (www.verispan.com).

LVHHN ranks 18th on the national list and is the number two IHN in the Northeast.

Verispan evaluated 570 health networks on their ability to operate as a unified organization in each of eight categories: integration, integrated technology, contractual capabilities, outpatient utilization, financial stability, services and access, hospital utilization, and physicians. LVHHN received perfect scores for integrated technology and hospital utilization.

“This assessment is based on performance and degree of integration, which for our patients means a high degree of consistency in quality, safety and effective communication among caregivers across all of our services and facilities,” said Elliot J. Sussman, M.D., LVHHN’s president and CEO.

In addition to consistently being nationally ranked among the most highly integrated health networks by Verispan, LVHHN is named among the “100 Most Wired” and “25 Most Wireless” hospitals in the U.S. for 2007 by Hospitals and Health Networks (H&HN) magazine, a publication of the American Hospital Association (AHA). H&HN also recognized LVHHN with an Innovator Award, one of only three hospitals in the country so honored, for its innovative use of information technology to advance patient care through its Advanced Intensive Care Unit (AICU).

“We are passionate about providing access to the highest quality care in the safest environment,” Dr. Sussman said. “On behalf of our community, we will continue to develop and implement new practices that safeguard our patients and ensure the highest quality of care.”

Dr. Sussman said LVHHN has invested in technology and personnel to increase efficiency improve accuracy and reduce medical errors. They include:

• Computer-assisted physician order entry, or CAPOE, to eliminate handwriting errors when ordering prescriptions and diagnostic tests.
• Bar-coding, which allows nurses to scan all medications at the patient’s bedside, then scan the patient’s wristband to ensure the right patient gets the right medication at the right time.
• Digital archiving of x-rays, MRI’s and other images, making it easier for physicians to access and view them and to confer with other specialists who can view the same image(s) from another location at the same time.
• Tele-intensivists, specially educated intensive care physicians who use video, audio and other digital technology to monitor patients 24 hours a day, providing an extra pair of eyes to catch subtle changes earlier and save lives.
• Medication Safety Officer, whose sole job is to improve the safety and security of medications.

A premier academic community hospital, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network includes three hospital facilities – two in Allentown and one in Bethlehem, Pa. – and Lehigh Valley Health Services, providing home health, hospice, pharmaceutical and health management services. In 2008, US News & World Report named Lehigh Valley Hospital one of America’s Best Hospitals for the thirteenth straight year. LVHHN’s advanced regional resources include a Level I Trauma Center with added pediatric qualifications, as well as burn, kidney and pancreas transplant, perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer care, and neurology and complex neurosurgery. LVHHN hospitals are designated national Magnet hospitals for excellence in nursing. LVH is one of Pennsylvania’s largest teaching hospitals and is a major teaching campus of Penn State's College of Medicine. LVHHN is the region’s largest employer and ranks among FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the second consecutive year.

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