PHILADELPHIA - Every year for a decade now, Penn Medicine has made CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives) Healthcare's "Most Wired" list for its use of information technology in supporting care delivery. It is the 18th time overall that Penn Medicine has achieved "Most Wired" status on the list recognizing hospitals and health systems for their technological prowess.
The CHIME list is broken down into different categories of care, and Penn Medicine once again placed in the Digital Health Certified Ambulatory and Certified Acute categories, reaching Level 8 (of 10) in both. Penn Medicine also received the Quality Award for both the Ambulatory and Acute categories.
"This year's CHIME survey highlighted advances in mobility and data analytics capabilities, areas in which Penn Medicine has established high achievement. We clearly have a very solid foundation to leverage and build upon as we meet the inpatient, ambulatory and homecare needs of our patients," said Michael Restuccia, senior vice president and chief information officer and head of Penn Medicine Information Services (IS). "I've always said that there is something very special here at Penn Medicine, where open discussion and collaboration takes place among care providers and members of the information services team in order to deploy advanced technologies that enable the best clinical outcomes for our community."
Organizations like Penn Medicine that attain CHIME's Digital Health Certified Ambulatory Level 8 status - the Quality Award - have deployed technologies and strategies to analyze data and begin achieving meaningful clinical and efficiency outcomes, according to the official designation. Telemedicine remains a strong example of this type of care in the health system, with the use of Penn Medicine OnDemand, a virtual urgent care service available system-wide. While the program began as an option for Penn Medicine employees and had been in place for years, it expanded to the public at the start of 2020, and was widely utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic.
