Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) has once again been recognized as one of the world’s “most wired” hospitals, earning Level 9 certification and a Performance Excellence Award for 2020 from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). SMH is one of only five hospitals in the Tampa Bay area to make the “most wired” list for 2020, and one of only two to earn Level 9 certification out of the 10 levels.

CHIME conducts the annual survey to identify and recognize the adoption of best practices in information technology by healthcare provider organizations, with the goal of improving patient safety and outcomes by driving change in healthcare IT. As part of the survey, hospitals are certified up to Level 10 based on scores in segments including infrastructure; security; business/disaster recovery; administrative/supply chain; analytics/data management; interoperability/population health; patient engagement; and clinical quality/safety. More than 30,000 facilities were represented in the 2020 survey.

Some of Sarasota Memorial’s IT advances include employing telehealth solutions to keep physicians, clinicians and patients safely connected throughout the Covid-19 pandemic; implementing sophisticated monitoring systems and data access audits that detect unauthorized access or external intrusions; an electronic health records system with advanced tools to support clinical decision making; and population health initiatives.