Kudos for Stanford Hospital's Many Technical Innovations

The app is one of many intelligent features that earned Stanford Hospital a Healthcare and Life Sciences Eye on Innovation Award from Gartner, an international research and advisory firm.

"By making the entire hospital operation 'smart' -- from automated patient check in to pharmacy robots -- Stanford has improved patient engagement, integrated processes and improved resource utilization," Gartner wrote.

The award "is a big deal because they have worldwide entries," said Gary Fritz, vice president and chief of applications. "We were recognized for a single, massive achievement -- we did all of the innovations at the same time."