February 18, 2026 – Nicklaus Children’s Hospital has earned HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7 Validation for inpatient services, the highest level of recognition on the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, reaffirming the health system’s continued leadership in the use of technology to support high-quality, patient-centered care.
The validation, awarded by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), recognizes healthcare organizations that demonstrate advanced use of electronic medical records, data analytics and clinical decision support to improve patient outcomes, safety and operational efficiency.
Nicklaus Children’s first achieved HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7 recognition for inpatient services in 2016. The 2026 validation reaffirms the hospital’s Stage 7 status across its inpatient setting, reflecting sustained excellence and continued innovation across the health system.
“This achievement underscores our long-standing commitment to leveraging technology and data in meaningful ways to enhance care for children and families,” said Michelle Hurtarte, CIO at Nicklaus Children’s Health System. “Maintaining Stage 7 validation across inpatient and ambulatory services requires continuous improvement, strong clinical collaboration and a shared focus on delivering safe, efficient and connected care.”
HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7 organizations demonstrate advanced interoperability, robust analytics, closed-loop medication administration, and measurable improvements in quality, safety and efficiency. At Nicklaus Children’s, these capabilities support clinical and operational performance across the continuum of care, including optimized patient length of stay and enhanced care coordination.
With this validation, Nicklaus Children’s joins a select group of healthcare organizations worldwide that have reached the highest level of electronic medical record adoption and are using information and technology to drive transformational change across all aspects of care delivery.
About Nicklaus Children’s, Where Your Child Matters Most ™
For 75 years, Nicklaus Children’s has stood as a beacon of hope for children and families across the state of Florida and beyond. Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is South Florida’s #1 nonprofit, freestanding specialty licensed hospital exclusively for children, serving close to 70 percent of children in the Miami metropolitan community. In addition, Nicklaus Children’s offers care within NCH North Hospital in Naples, Jupiter Medical Center’s De George Pediatric Unit and select Baptist Health Hospital pediatric emergency units. The hospital and its network of more than 35 outpatient care locations offer lifesaving care in Miami-Dade, Broward, Martin and Palm Beach counties. These outpatient locations include an array of urgent care, pediatric primary care, and subspecialty care centers and are either hospital-based or outpatient locations under Nicklaus Children’s Pediatric Specialists, LLC (NCPS). Providing a pipeline of future physicians and groundbreaking research, Nicklaus Children’s is an academic and clinical affiliate of Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Nicklaus Children’s is home to centers of excellence including the Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute, the Nicklaus Children’s Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute, Nicklaus Children’s Neuroscience Institute and Nicklaus Children’s Heart Institute. The 325-bed hospital is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine, with many programs routinely ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. Nicklaus Children’s also includes a nonprofit physician practice subsidiary with over 40 specialties, and an ambulatory surgery center. For more information visit nicklauschildrens.org.
