BCH Earns “Most Wired” Recognition for Second Consecutive Year
National award recognizes commitment to enhance information technology for patient care and safety
Boulder Community Health’s continued investment in information technology to improve patient care and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic has again received important national recognition. The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) announced October 7 that BCH has earned 2021 CHIME Digital Health Most Wired recognition for Foothills Hospital and its physician clinics. This is the second consecutive year BCH has been honored for both its clinics and hospital.
The CHIME Most Wired program conducts an annual survey to assess how effectively healthcare organizations apply core and advanced technologies into their clinical and business programs to improve health care in their communities. There were 36,674 organizations represented in the 2021 survey, with less than 2% receiving Most Wired designation.
“Digital transformation in health care has accelerated to an unprecedented level since 2020, and the next few years will bring a wave of innovation that empowers healthcare consumers and will astound the industry,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell. “The Digital Health Most Wired program recognizes the outstanding digital leaders who have paved the way for this imminent revolution in healthcare.”
“To earn an award such as this, we had to outpace the rest of the industry in improving our digital response,” said Dr. Robert Vissers, BCH President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our IT team’s most significant advances were in information security and infrastructure resiliency to prevent ransomware attacks, along with expanded use of analytics and data management.”
As Boulder County has continued to deal with COVID-19, BCH worked tirelessly to ensure that patients’ experiences and care were not negatively impacted by the pandemic. BCH dramatically increased its usage of the MyBCH patient portal, which enables patients to manage their health care through their home computer or smartphone.
“In the past year, technology has enabled wonderful new capabilities for our patients, including the ability to schedule online appointments with their physician, get cost estimates of procedures and have 24/7 access to their medical record through MyBCH,” said Michael Jefferies, BCH Vice President and Chief Information Officer. “Technology has also been instrumental in our clinicians’ response to the pandemic by assisting our caregivers in determining the best course of treatment for patients. We now use predictive analytics technology to search through patient records and other health data to gain insights that can predict a patient’s likelihood of getting sicker.”
Along with the increased focus on digital technologies to improve patient care, information management and security were of critical importance and a focal point of BCH’s exceptional IT team.
The COVID-19 pandemic also required BCH to adjust how many of its employees worked in order to ensure staff safety without disrupting workflows that are critical to the organization’s operations. Because of the investments in BCH’s digital infrastructure, many departments were able to remotely work safely and productively.
The 2021 Digital Health Most Wired program, which included four separate surveys: acute, ambulatory, long-term care and international acute. The surveys assessed the adoption, integration and impact of technologies in health care organizations at all stages of development, from early development to industry leading.
Each participating organization received a customized benchmarking report, an overall score and scores for specific areas such as infrastructure and security. Participants can use the report and scores to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement.
For more information about the CHIME Digital Health Most Wired program, please go here.