WebProNews

Results of a new survey of the 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems suggest they have lower mortality rates.

A wide variety of information technology options available in a hospital could be the difference between life and death for a patient. The Hospitals and Health Systems annual survey of technology in health care suggests a mortality rate 7.2 percent lower for high-tech hospitals exists.

The suggestion stands up to the 99 percent confidence level, and even remains when adjustments for a hospital's size and its status as a teaching center are controlled in the data.

However, the survey states very clearly that it does not establish a casual relationship between a hospital's IT integration and procedural outcomes.

The hospitals considered being the Most Wired in the survey address quality issues with a variety of tech tools. With a broader high-tech presence, physicians are more apt to enter their orders directly into a system themselves instead of delegating the task.

Clinical interactions, which take the form of medications and dosages prescribed for a patient, have been a long time area of concern for health care providers. Those on the Most Wired list demonstrated a higher percentage of those transactions being conducted electronically.

Some notable names appear in the Most Wired 100 list, like Jewish Hospital of Louisville, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. This year's survey had 502 hospitals and health systems representing 1,255 hospitals participating.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.