U.S. News & World Report: Children’s Medical Center Dallas Among “Most Connected Hospitals” in the Nation

DALLAS – Children’s Medical Center Dallas has been recognized as one of the most connected hospitals in 2015-16 by U.S. News World Report. The U.S. News Most Connected Hospitals list recognizes hospitals whose excellence in patient safety, patient engagement and clinical connectedness improves patient care.

“We are pleased to be recognized as one of the most connected hospitals in the nation,” said Christopher J. Durovich, president and chief executive officer at Children’s Health. “Our connectivity plays an important role in our ability to provide the highest possible quality of care to our patients and to expand our ability to reach more families beyond the walls of our facilities. It also helps our team focus on what really matters—making life better for children.”

Health information technology can help hospitals better coordinate care and improve patient safety. Children’s Health continues to seek new and innovative ways of providing care to North Texas families with teams dedicated solely to driving and improving information technology and health care innovation.

“We continuously strive to be on the leading edge of what's next and what's best to help us better serve our patients, from state-of-the-art equipment and technology to the latest treatment protocols,” said Pamela Arora, senior vice president and chief information officer at Children’s Health. “These efforts tie back to our vision of becoming one of the very best medical centers in the nation.”

To identify the Most Connected Hospitals, U.S. News analyzed dozens of variables spanning three domains of medicine where electronic connectedness made a difference to patients. U.S. News assigned domain-specific scores and an overall score to each hospital for which it could obtain data from the most recent AHA Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement, an IT survey that the American Hospital Association administers to hospitals nationwide. Hospitals recognized needed to have earned at least 70 out of 75 points in the 2014 IT survey or 55 out of 61 points in the 2013 survey. Initial eligibility also required Most Connected Hospitals to have achieved national ranking or high performing recognition in the current edition of Best Hospitals, Best Hospitals for Common Care or Best Children’s Hospitals. In all, 159 hospitals made the Most Connected Hospitals 2015-16 list.

Additionally, Children’s Health has recently launched a series of health care innovation tools to improve long-term health outcomes and connect patients to medical professionals outside of the hospital, including a new asthma management app, My Asthma Pal. Other initiatives include a School-Based Telehealth Program, used by 57 schools throughout Dallas-Fort Worth, as well as a Remote Patient Monitoring Program for liver/renal transplant patients. The system is also providing virtual pediatric emergency medicine consultations through TeleER and TeleNICU services through the Children’s Health telemedicine network.

For more information on Children’s Health, please visit childrens.com or call 1-844-4CHILDRENS. To view the complete list of Most Connected Hospitals 2015-16, visit usnews.com/mostconnected.

Media Contact: Email mediarelations@childrens.com or call 214-456-5310

About Children’s Health℠

Children’s Health℠ is one of the nation’s leading pediatric health care systems, providing a full spectrum of health care services for children in Dallas, North Texas and surrounding regions. Children’s Health includes the flagship hospital Children’s Medical Center Dallas, as well as Children’s Medical Center Plano and multiple special centers, Our Children’s House locations, Children’s Health Pediatric Group primary care practices, home health, physician services and the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern. For more information, please visit www.childrens.com.