PHILADELPHIA – Penn Medicine’s Information Services (IS) team has been included in CIO magazine’s list of 100 organizations to be honored for innovative use of information technology. The team will be honored at CIO magazine’s 29th annual CIO 100 Symposium & Awards in August. The CIO 100 Symposium is the organization’s most powerful gathering of chief information officers and senior IT and business executives.
Penn Medicine Information Services (IS) is recognized for realizing the capabilities of Apple’s new HealthKit tool when combined with Penn Medicine’s electronic medical record (EMR) system. This novel approach enabled Penn Medicine clinicians to improve the patient experience by allowing caregivers to monitor and take a proactive approach to care.
After acquiring the HealthKit technology, IS worked with cardiology to monitor the blood pressure of postpartum women. Elevated blood pressure in women who have recently given birth can lead to serious complications, including preeclampsia. Patients in the study were equipped with a Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuff to enable automated monitoring rather than using a traditional manual method of recording results on paper. The information allowed the physician and care team to monitor the data and, if needed, respond with earlier intervention in care. The integration of Apple’s HealthKit allows Penn Medicine clinical staff to better detect, monitor, manage, and reimagine patient care.
“Penn Medicine’s Apple HealthKit initiative further displays the Penn Medicine Information Services team’s ability to partner with our clinical colleagues to leverage leading edge technology for the benefit of our patients’ care,” said Michael Restuccia, vice president and chief information officer for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. “There is no greater reward for our team than enabling the overall patient experience.”
The CIO 100 Symposium & Awards will be held on the evening of August 16, the final day of a three-day event at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.