Straight talk: new approaches in healthcare. The digital hospital comes of age.

: When the Indiana Heart Hospital opens Feb. 17, 2003, it will operate a nearly paperless and filmless environment. The 88-bed hospital is a joint venture between Community Health Network, a four-hospital system in Indianapolis, and a group of cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons. When Phoenix Children's Hospital opened its 300-bed facility May 24, 2002, it went live with its core information systems in place. The non-profit hospital plans to add, improve, and integrate systems over the next few years, eventually becoming a mostly digital environment as well. In the seventh installment of Straight Talk, we discuss the steps necessary to become a paperless facility. Modern Healthcare and PricewaterhouseCoopers present Straight Talk. The session on the Digital hospital was held on October 8, 2002 at Modern Healthcare's Chicago Headquarters. Charles S. Lauer, publisher of Modern Healthcare, was the moderator.