Adventist Health System recognized for innovation by Healthcare Informatics

The development and implementation of technology and innovation to enhance care delivery is a focus for Adventist Health System. The organization's efforts recently resulted in an award from Healthcare Informatics, an online health care technology publication. Healthcare Informatics recognized Adventist Health System in the providers division as part of its 2018 Health Care Innovator Awards.

The recognition is the result of Adventist Health System's pioneering work around its bundled-payment initiative, in which the organization combined intensive process improvement efforts with the leveraging of data to make substantial performance improvements. These improvements include a 19 percent decrease in 90-day readmissions, a 17 percent decrease in discharges to skilled nursing facilities and a 13 to 17 percent decrease in acute hospital length of stay, depending on the diagnosis-related group.

The bundled-payment initiative for which Adventist Health System is recognized is the result of its participation in the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement program as mandated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Sixteen Adventist Health System hospitals were required to participate in the program, intended to support better and more efficient care for patients undergoing the most common inpatient surgeries for Medicare beneficiaries ' hip fractures, as well as hip and knee replacements.

The Healthcare Informatics Innovator Awards Program recognizes leadership teams from patient care organizations, including hospitals, medical groups, integrated health systems and other health care organizations for effectively deploying information technology in order to improve clinical, administrative, financial or organizational performance.