Iowa Health System among the "Top Technology Innovators across America"

09/29/2010

Sioux City, IA - Award-Winning Project Enables Immediate Digital Delivery of X-Rays across Iowa and Western Ill.

Sioux City, IA — Iowa Health System, St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center’s parent organization, made this year’s InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation’s most innovative users of business technology. The honor marks Iowa Health System's first appearance on the list, which was released this week at the 2010 InformationWeek 500 Conference awards ceremony in Dana Point, Cal.

St. Luke’s and Iowa Health System were recognized for the recent implementation of a new Picture Archiving and Communication System known in the health care industry as PACS. The system, which digitally stores, retrieves and presents medical images such as X-rays, was planned and initiated on an unprecedented scale and in a record timeframe. Also noteworthy was the extensive collaboration among an interdisciplinary team that included physicians, IT professionals and senior management individuals from St. Luke’s and across Iowa Health System.

St. Luke’s care providers can now immediately and securely review digital medical images while consulting with other care providers, regardless of whether they are in Siouxland or hundreds of miles away.

"Innovative use of information technology is a key component to providing better care," said Peter Thoreen, St. Luke’s CEO. "We're proud of the many advances that are being made at St. Luke’s and throughout Iowa Health System to create the seamless and secure movement of information between all types of providers, regardless of their location."

InformationWeek identifies and honors the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual listing of top performers. The InformationWeek 500 rankings are unique among corporate rankings as it spotlights the power of innovation in information technology, rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders.

“For 22 years, the InformationWeek 500 has honored the most innovative users of business technology,” said InformationWeek Editor In Chief Rob Preston. “As we start to emerge from the worst recession in decades, the IT focus is now on driving growth—new sources of revenue, new relationships with customers, even new business models. This year’s ranking placed special emphasis on those companies and business technology executives leading that charge.”

Additional details on the InformationWeek 500 can be found online at www.informationweek.com/iw500/. PACS within Iowa Health System: Medical images are now being shared faster between St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center and providers across Iowa and Western Illinois. The new system is now being used by:

• Hospitals: 14
• Imaging Centers: 4
• Clinics: 20
• Radiologists: 129
• Referring Physicians: 1834
• Total Users: 5273

About InformationWeek Business Technology Network:

The InformationWeek Business Technology Network provides IT executives with unique analysis and tools that parallel their work flow – from defining and framing objectives through to the evaluation and recommendation of solutions. Anchored by InformationWeek, the multimedia powerhouse that looks across the enterprise, the network scales across the most critical technology categories with online properties like DarkReading.com (security), IntelligentEnterprise.com (application architecture), NetworkComputing.com (networking and communications) and PlugintotheCloud.com (cloud computing). The network also provides focused content for key IT audiences, such as CIOs, developers, SMBs and IT Support Managers via InformationWeek Global CIO, Dr. Dobb's, InformationWeek SMB, and HDI respectively, as well as vital vertical industries with InformationWeek Financial Services, Government and Healthcare sites. Content is at the nucleus of our information distribution strategy, and the network provides a deep and rich portfolio of decision-making tools and peer based research through InformationWeek Analytics, the leading service for peer-based IT research and analysis. IT professionals turn to our experts and communities to stay informed, get advice and research technologies to make strategic business decisions. The InformationWeek Business Technology Network is part of UBM TechWeb.

For more information, visit www.informationweek.com.

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About St. Luke’s Health System:

St. Luke's Regional Medical Center is a community hospital serving the tri-state Siouxland area. Our focus is - and will always be - patient-centered care to improve the health of the people of Siouxland. With 1,200 employees and nearly 85,000 patients cared for annually, St. Luke’s is an anchor of support for the Siouxland community.

St. Luke's offers full-service healthcare with a range of inpatient and outpatient services, specialty and family healthcare clinics, and healthcare screenings and community benefit programs. St. Luke's is also planning for the future of healthcare through its affiliation with St. Luke’s College. With a strong focus on safety and quality, St. Luke’s has built a long-standing reputation of improving lives through advanced treatment and health education.

For more information, visit www.stlukes.org.