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The Ohio State University Medical Center has again been named one of the nation's top health care networks in the country for its use of wireless and Internet technology to ensure patient safety, superior customer service and more efficient delivery of medical services.

This is the fourth year for Ohio State has been recognized on the "Most Wired" list, which is compiled by Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association. The only other Ohio hospitals to make the list of top 100 hospitals are Akron General Medical Center and Promedica Health System in Toledo.

To obtain their results, the American Hospital Association polled the nation's hospitals on their use of Internet and computer technologies to improve the delivery of health care. More than 400 health systems representing approximately 1,100 hospitals responded to the survey.

Eric Kunz, executive director of corporate support services for the OSU Health System, said Ohio State has made it a priority to continuously develop and invest in areas that improve the care and safety of patients.

"We're using the latest advancements in wireless technology to provide everything from bedside care and record-keeping to the secured transmission of patient records and medical images," said Kunz. "It's certainly an honor to have our achievements and innovations in this area of communications technology recognized nationally," he added.

Other Internet technologies in place at Ohio State include Web access to medical images, and wireless access to an intranet serving the health system. National studies conducted in recent years have shown that health care institutions using advanced communications methods often are more cost efficient and have a lower rate of medical errors.

The list of the 100 "Most Wired" hospitals and health systems appears in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks.

The OSU Health System is comprised of University Hospitals, the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, University Hospitals East, OSU & Harding Behavioral Healthcare and Medicine, the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital to be completed in 2004, and more than 35 primary and specialty care sites throughout central Ohio.