According to HIMSS Analytics Europe, the Marina Salud Hospital de Dénia in Spain has achieved Stage 7 of the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM), making it the first to do so in Spain and the second in Europe. The EMRAM aims to evaluate the digitization level of a hospital, with hospitals ranked from Stage 0-7, the latter being awarded for achieving a paperless medical record environment.

Hospital de Dénia has implemented electronic systems for every part of the healthcare process, making it a truly paperless hospital. All the nurses and physicians document their clinical notes online, thus the latest results and impressions are available for all care givers to see instantly. The medical imaging department is completely digital making all images available online across the hospital network. Physicians enter orders electronically, supported by an intelligent clinical decision support system.

To top it off, there’s a clinical and business intelligence program which aims to enable staff to analyze care quality and efficiency, making it a 'data driven' organization, which is a key factor for a Stage 7 hospital.

“Spain is the country with most Stage 6 EMRAM hospitals, so it was just a question of time before we identified the first Spanish Stage 7 winner. Hospital de Dénia is a rare example of a 100% paperless hospital and is a role model for what the hospital of the future should look like,” Uwe Buddrus, CEO, HIMSS Analytics Europe, said in a statement.

In Europe, Spain have the highest number of Stage 6 winners and the highest number of candidate hospitals in the pipeline to be scored, according to HIMSS Analytics Europe.