LAS VEGAS – Miami Children’s Health System (MCHS) and its flagship, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, will showcase its use of technology to advance patient care and the patient experience at HIMSS 16, a health information technology (IT) conference taking place February 29 through March 4 in Las Vegas. The event brings together thousands of health IT professionals, clinicians, executives and vendors from around the world. Miami Children’s Health System is a leader in merging health and technology to meet the evolving needs of patients, providers and other healthcare organizations.
The IT Department at Miami Children’s Health System has been recognized for utilizing technology, such as mobile applications, interactive robotic devices, mobile medical carts, medical kiosks and more to support the 289-bed Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, a growing network of outpatient centers and MCH Anywhere, the health system’s telehealth program, which serves patients around the world. Recently, the hospital was awarded an HIMSS Level 7 facility designation by HIMSS Analytics. This is the highest level a hospital or institution can achieve in the transition to a completely integrated electronic health record model.
Innovations being showcased this year include:
Predictive Clinical Solutions
Using the power of machine learning and advanced analytics, the hospital has developed technology that will soon enter clinical trials and promises to revolutionize advance care models in helping to determine the best path and outcome in the critical care cycle.
Location Intelligence
A location-based enterprise resource platform that tracks assets, traces workflows, and triggers tasks in real-time. The health system is using this technology to support automation in the clinical and operational setting of its facilities. Patient tracking, asset tracking, and hand washing compliance are some the innovative uses of this technology.
Telehealth
MCHS offers an array of telehealth services designed to enhance access to pediatric subspecialty care. The
MCH Anywhere app connects physicians to patients from around the world. The telehealth center also offers physician-to-physician videoconferencing for second opinion consultations, remote reading of diagnostic tests, telehealth carts equipped with fully-integrated luetooth diagnostic devices, and private telehealth kiosks that can be placed inside commercial and retail properties for virtual medical care. The Telehealth Command Center, located at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, supports these services using advanced two-way voice, data and video technology and a high-speed broadband wireless network with the capacity to send and receive high-resolution images, reports, tests, and other information.
Drones
MCHS is exploring use of drones (unmanned aircraft) to support patient care during global medical emergencies. Drones would be connected to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Telehealth Command Center, enabling real-time connectivity and delivery of medications and medical supplies to treat allergic reactions, fractures, burns, wounds and more.
Medical Devices and Remote Monitoring
One of the ongoing goals of the health system is to create a nearly pain-free environment for the children receiving care. The health system is working with a device company on solutions for non-invasive, pain-free diagnostic testing.
Mobile Health Applications
Nicklaus Children’s is the first hospital in the country to launch a smartphone app for Apple iOS devices that uses
Wi-Fi triangulation technology to offer patients the convenience of an on-campus, indoor GPS-like way-finding system, along with other service enhancements. The hospital’s
Fit4Kids Care App also enables patients and families to obtain urgent care wait times, purchase items from the gift shop and cafeteria, read and print discharge notes and more.
Virtual Reality
Recent advancements in consumer-driven virtual reality headsets and applications have opened the door for immersive medical training and education. The hospital is exploring the use virtual reality through mobile applications that will enable staff and consumers to receive training for
CPR and basic life safety skills, for example, in a 3-D environment.
Visit booth #A07 at the HX360 Accelerator Hub Pavilion to learn more.
About Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Where Your Child Matters Most ™ (2025)
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 of nearly 35 outpatient care locations offer lifesaving care in 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 Health 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.