BCH Wins 2 Health Information Technology Awards
In recognition of BCH’s excellent health information technology program, BCH and Michael Jefferies, BCH’s Vice President and Chief Information Officer, were recently awarded with two prestigious honors.
Digital Health Most Wired Award
For the third consecutive year, Boulder Community Health earned the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) ‘Digital Health Most Wired’ award as a certified level 8 for both ambulatory and acute care in our health system. The CHIME Most Wired program conducts an annual survey to assess how effectively health care organizations apply core and advanced technologies into their clinical and business programs to improve health care in their communities.
“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.
2022 Colorado HIE Excellence Leader Award
Contexture, the largest provider of health information exchange (HIE) services in Colorado, also recognized BCH’s leadership in this area by honoring Jefferies for his outstanding leadership in helping to advance health care through health IT and HIE across Colorado. 
“Patient information must first and foremost remain the property of the patient,” says Jefferies. “It ensures that patients receive the best care wherever they choose to go, are informed, and are active in directing their care. Health care providers require records of the care they give, but those records should never be hoarded for strategic advantage. Although health care in Colorado is fiercely competitive, I am grateful to know that our organization always put patients first and are committed to the open exchange of records.”
With over 20 years of experience in health information technology, Jefferies is passionate about implementing solutions that evolve patient and clinician capabilities in pursuit of better well-being. He joined BCH in 2016 and has implemented technological advancements across various settings, including acute care hospitals, physician clinics, post-acute care, home health agencies, surgical centers, emergency departments and in patients’ homes. BCH was the first health care system in Colorado to connect to Contexture’s HIE. During his time at BCH, Jefferies has further advanced BCH’s use of Contexture HIE services, including the utilization of PatientCare 360 (PC360) by our employees, sending data to the HIE for access by community providers and soon for compliance with the Hospital Transformation Program (HTP).
Jefferies is active in public policy advocacy that promotes the use of technology in health care to serve the most vulnerable populations. He’s especially passionate about creating a just health care system that uses data and informatics to guide the deployment of effective individualized and population-based health programs.