(l-r) Tom Stafford, CDW CTO; Jonathan Witenko, Lee Health System Director; Kendall Brown, SFLHIMSS President; and Mical Ramim, NSU Assistant Professor
Congratulations to Lee Health, winner of SFLHIMSS Chapter’s 5th Healthcare Technology Annual Innovation Award. Lee Health’s healthcare technology innovation project was recognized at SFLHIMSS’ IntegraTe Conference held at the Alan B. Levan |NSU Broward Center of Innovation on November 17, 2022. SFLHIMSS Chapter celebrates health technology innovation. The chapter signifies its celebration of innovation by hosting a Healthcare Technology Innovation Award contest each year. On October 26, 2022, the chapter held its 5th Annual Innovation Awards event. The event hosted 3 judges, 50+ attendees, and presentations from five healthcare organization finalists. Professor Mical Ramim, Ph.D., SFLHIMSS Board Member and Student Co-Chair led this year’s Innovation Award contest.
Lee Health in collaboration with Caregility implemented a remote patient monitoring system, called the Virtual Patient Observation (VPO) program. This program was initially piloted at one Lee Health hospital location. Within six months, the Virtual Patient Observation program had expanded to all four Lee Health hospital locations. Lee Health initiated this project due to struggles with staffing shortages across the healthcare system. Today, Lee Health is monitoring patients at a 6:1 patient to virtual safety technician ratio, with plans to utilize an 8:1 ratio. Lee Health projects savings to the health care system will be $2.1+ million annually. Lee Health’s Digital Transformation vision is to advance healing by delivering innovative digital approaches to access, patient care, and operational effectiveness. The VPO program was developed to solve a significant and prevalent issue in healthcare – optimizing patient safety during staffing shortages.
SFLHIMSS would like to give a huge Thank You to CDW for sponsoring the 5th Annual Healthcare Technology Innovation Awards contest. We appreciate you!
