Recognizing Excellence in Virtual Care
2026 Customer Summit Award Winners
Celebrating the 2026 Caregility Summit Award Winners
At the 2026 Caregility Customer Summit, we had the opportunity to recognize organizations that are helping shape the future of connected care. This year’s award recipients are advancing virtual care models, strengthening clinical teams, expanding access to clinical expertise, and demonstrating the impact connected care can have across health systems, communities, and the future healthcare workforce. Congratulations to these 2026 award recipients!
Emerging Leader in Virtual Care – Rome Health
The Emerging Leader in Virtual Care Award recognizes a team that thoughtfully introduced Virtual Nursing to their rural community.
Rome Health took a people-first approach, involving frontline nurses in workflow design and focusing on high-impact use cases like admissions, discharges, patient education, and family collaboration.
In just months, the program completed more than 1,400 virtual nursing workflows and returned an estimated 718 hours of nursing time to the bedside.
Pictured left to right: Ron Gaboury, CEO, Caregility; Sara Dutch, RN, Clinical Coordinator
Rome Health; Mike Brandofino Sr., President and COO, Caregility
Virtual Care Trailblazer – Johns Hopkins Health System
The Virtual Care Trailblazer Award recognizes an organization that continues to push beyond established virtual care use cases to discover what else is possible.
Johns Hopkins Health System continues to explore what virtual nursing can support, from admissions and discharges to mentoring, medication verification, patient education, quality monitoring, and more.
In its first year, the program delivered more than 18,000 virtual sessions and saved over 3,300 hours of bedside nursing time.
Pictured left to right: Ron Gaboury, CEO, Caregility; April Saathoff, DNP, RN, NI-BC, CPHIMS, VP & CNIO, The Johns Hopkins Health System; Cindy Diaz, System Development Manager, The Johns Hopkins Health System Mike Brandofino Sr., President and COO, Caregility
Virtual Care Pioneer – Baptist Health
The Virtual Care Pioneer Award celebrates an organization demonstrating what’s possible when virtual care evolves from an individual program into enterprise-wide infrastructure.
Baptist Health built virtual care into inpatient care delivery, supporting more than 20 specialized programs across virtual nursing, patient safety, specialty care, pharmacy, and other services.
By midyear 2026, its virtual nursing program had already reached 46,015 encounters.
Pictured left to right: Ron Gaboury, CEO, Caregility; Danny Kennedy, Corporate Director of Care Innovation, Baptist Health; Jamie Lamont, Telehealth Specialist II, Baptist Health; Mike Brandofino Sr., President and COO, Caregility
Community Impact – Rutgers School of Nursing
The Community Impact Award recognizes an organization extending virtual care beyond today’s clinical environment to help prepare the healthcare workforce of tomorrow.
Rutgers School of Nursing is preparing the next generation of nurses for technology-enabled care by bringing virtual care training and experience into nursing education.
The school has developed a new Virtual Nurse credentialing program to help future nurses enter practice with greater confidence in digitally enabled care.
Pictured left to right: Ron Gaboury, CEO, Caregility; Angela Starkweather, PhD, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, Dean, Chief Academic Officer & Professor, Rutgers School of Nursing; Mike Brandofino Sr., President and COO, Caregility
Champion of Collaborative Care – UMass Memorial Health
The Champion of Collaborative Care Award recognizes an organization demonstrating how virtual care can connect care teams and communities.
Through its Digital Hub, UMass Memorial Health supports patients across the health system through eICU, remote video monitoring, care at home, interpreter, and remote patient monitoring services.
Their internal efforts and support as our 2026 site hosts show their commitment to advancing the art of the possible in connected care.
Pictured left to right: Ron Gaboury, CEO, Caregility; Eric Alper, MD, SVP, Chief Quality Officer / Chief Clinical Informatics Officer, UMass Memorial Health; Eric Cucchi, MS, PA-C, CAQ-HM, DFAAPA, Director, eICU Operations, UMass Memorial Health, Erica Smith, MSN, RN, NI-BC, Chief Nursing Informatics Officer, AVP Clinical Informatics, UMass Memorial Health; Dave Smith, Senior Director, Digital Innovation, UMass Memorial Health; Mike Brandofino Sr., President and COO, Caregility
Congratulations to Our 2026 Award Recipients!
Thank you to Rome Health, Johns Hopkins Health System, Baptist Health, Rutgers School of Nursing, and UMass Memorial Health for the work you are doing to advance connected care. Your programs demonstrate that the greatest impact comes not from technology alone, but from the people, workflows, partnerships, and ideas that turn technology into better care. We are proud to recognize your accomplishments as part of the 2026 Caregility Customer Summit!