St. Elizabeth Hospital in Enumclaw has earned special certification for its electronic record-keeping and use of clinical information technology to support patient-care services.

The hospital has achieved Stage 6 certification by Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, which evaluates hospitals on their deployment of information technology to improve quality, safety, access and cost-effectiveness of care.

Fewer than 7 percent of the 5,200 U.S. hospitals that report data to HIMSS have reached Stage 6. St. Elizabeth Hospital is also the only facility in King County to earn Stage 6 status. The highest level is Stage 7, which indicates paper charts are no longer used to deliver or manage patient care.

“This achievement reflects our commitment to the meaningful use of state-of-the-art technology that makes our hospital the best place to heal, the best place to work and the best community health resource,” said St. Elizabeth Hospital President Donna Russell-Cook. She added that the staff is evaluating steps needed to achieve Stage 7 certification.

In its summary, HIMSS noted that St. Elizabeth’s clinical information technology resources enable physicians to electronically document diagnoses and other essential patient-care information. Physicians and other professional providers can electronically share and review medical images through a secure portal on the Internet, which can quicken diagnoses and development of treatment plans for patients.

In 2011, St. Elizabeth was ranked among the 25 “Most Wired” small and rural community hospitals in the nation by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine for its menu of IT capabilities that support care quality and operational efficiency.

St. Elizabeth Hospital, part of Franciscan Health System, provides 24-hour emergency care and an array of inpatient and outpatient surgical, medical and other services. The hospital opened in February 2011.