R. Hal Baker, MD, assumed his current role as senior vice president and chief digital and chief information officer in 2020 with a focus on the creation of WellSpan’s Analytics Center of Excellence and WellSpan’s Innovation Center. He also oversees information technology, medical informatics, cybersecurity, digital and biomedical.
Since 2005, he has championed WellSpan's progress in leveraging technology to improve patient safety, clinical care and quality of the patient experience.
An avid promoter of Open Notes and instant access for patients to their results, Hal was a leader in the creation of patient portals that focused on giving patients immediate control of their data. Through his leadership, WellSpan achieved HIMSS Stage 7 recognition on both Cerner and Epic electronic health records.
From 2013 to 2020, Hal served as senior vice president, clinical improvement, and drove an enhanced focus to improve patient safety. By fostering collaboration between clinicians and technology, WellSpan was able to dramatically improve survival in sepsis to nation-leading levels. This effort was recognized with WellSpan’s receipt of the 2019 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award.
Recognized as both a physician and technology leader, he has served in committee leadership roles for the American College of Physicians. He served on the board of the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) from 2016 to 2021 and was recognized as the organization’s Physician Executive of the Year in 2022. In addition, Hal received the ORBIE Award as the 2021 Philadelphia Chief Information Officer of the Year for Healthcare.
He has presented nationally and internationally on the topic of clinical leadership in information services and patient-centered design in the deployment of technology.
Hal joined WellSpan York Hospital in June 1995 as associate program director of the WellSpan York Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Program. He previously served as lead physician at Apple Hill Internal Medicine, where he still practices primary care as part of the WellSpan Medical Group.
He came to York after completing a general internal medicine fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and a residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a bachelor's degree in biology and a medical degree from Cornell University.
