The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is pleased to announce that UPMC Western Maryland has earned the 2020 CHIME Digital Health Most Wired recognition as a certified level 8. The CHIME Digital Health 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 and care in their communities.

“Digital technology has been a driver of innovation in healthcare for many years now, but never to the degree that we saw in 2020 with the pandemic,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell. “The Digital Health Most Wired program underscores why healthcare organizations keep pushing themselves to be digital leaders and shows what amazing feats they can achieve. This certification recognizes their exemplary performance in 2020.”

“This recognition is the result of the great work done by the IT team and our superusers throughout the hospital,” said William Byers, UPMC Western Maryland Vice President and Chief Information Officer. “A lot of effort goes into getting the most from our computer systems to help deliver the best care at the lowest cost, and I am pleased that we have been recognized as one of the nation’s 350 Most Wired organizations again in 2020.”

A total of 29,135 organizations were represented in the 2020 Digital Health Most Wired program.

The surveys assessed the adoption, integration and impact of technologies in healthcare 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 individual levels in eight segments: infrastructure; security; business/disaster recovery; administrative/supply chain; analytics/data management; interoperability/population health; patient engagement; and clinical quality/safety. Participants can use the report and scores to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. Participants also received certification based on their overall performance, with level 10 being the highest.