The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is pleased to announce that The International Medical Center has earned 2020 CHIME Digital Health Most Wired recognition as a certified level 9, the only one in the MENA region and the first one in Saudi. 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. "Levels 9 and 10 represents healthcare technology leaders that often leverage these technologies in innovative ways and have encouraged deep adoption across their entire organization," according to CHIME. More than 30,000 facilities in 14 countries were represented in the 2020 survey, which is almost double 2019's representation. "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." "Receiving the CHIME's Most Wired Performance Excellence award is an honor, and more importantly, it is the recognition of staying relevant with industry trends in a time of rapid and incredible change. IMC has remained committed to investing in our IT Infrastructure and maximizing technology to achieve our organization goals," said Muhammad Siddiqui, chief information officer, IMC. "We are using a variety of tools and emerging technologies to improve patient engagement, experience, and safety. This award also demonstrates the power of technology in transforming healthcare, and it is something we have built our practice around to provide the right care, at the right place and at the right time," he added. Certification Level Definitions Levels 9–10: In addition to meeting the criteria for levels 1–8, organizations in level 9 or 10 are often leaders in healthcare technology who actively push the industry forward. Not only have many of them implemented advanced technologies, but they often leverage these technologies in innovative ways and have encouraged deep adoption across their entire organization. As a result, they are realizing meaningful outcomes, including improved quality of care, improved patient experience, reduced costs, and broader patient access to healthcare services. Some of the advanced technologies used to achieve these outcomes include telehealth solutions, price-transparency and cost-analysis tools, access to data at the point of care, and tools to engage patients and their families throughout the care process. 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 also received certification based on their overall performance, with level 10 being the highest. This is the third year that CHIME has conducted the survey and overseen the program. In each successive year, CHIME has expanded the survey to capture more types of organizations that serve patients across the continuum of care. CHIME also continues to promote the program internationally to provide a global overview of digital health advancements. IT business partners and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate, exchange best practices, address professional development needs and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and care in the communities they serve. — SG
