Starting the year off strong, IMO Health has been recognized by Built In as one of the Best Midsize Companies to Work for in Chicago in 2026 – and while we’re thrilled to receive this honor, we can’t say we’re entirely surprised (or at least I, the author of this blog, am not surprised). This is our second consecutive win and comes on the heels of two Modern Healthcare Best in Business awards for Data Analytics and Revenue Cycle Management.
Built In’s annual awards recognize tech companies across the U.S. that are raising the bar on compensation, benefits, and people-first initiatives, from hybrid work models to wellness programs.
“We’re proud to be recognized by Built In Chicago for the work we do to foster a workplace culture in which our employees can thrive,” said Charlie Judy, Chief People Officer at IMO Health. “This work is intentional, and it’s a collective responsibility to which we hold ourselves accountable.”
So, what differentiates IMO Health from the other 99 companies on Built In’s 2026 list? For starters, we don’t follow a cookie-cutter recipe for “Best Places to Work.” Our culture isn’t prescribed or defined by a specific program, practice, or policy. Just like our solutions and long-term goals as a business, our culture continues to develop – naturally.
Day to day, that shows up in how we work together across the organization. IMO Health is a highly collaborative and innovative place where people are encouraged to pitch ideas, test them, and learn from what works (or doesn’t).
The trick, Judy reiterated, is intentionality; being intentional about managing workplace culture, so that it “evolves into what it needs to be.”
Our “boomerangs” may be the greatest testament to the collaborative, supportive, and inclusive community we’ve built here. Well, that – and the time the entire marketing department, myself included, wore wigs during our quarterly Team Week. But that’s a story for another time.
Anyway, we currently have several boomerang employees – referring to individuals who left the company at one point and later returned.
“The more I talked to people, the more I realized IMO Health had maintained that approachable, supportive culture that was so deeply ingrained when we were just 50 people,” Chris Nagorny, Client Success Director and three-time IMO Health employee, said. “It’s not easy for a company to maintain that open-door nature as they grow.”
Home to 355 employees, dozens of departments, and four offices – two in Chicago, one in Houston, and one in Roseville, CA – IMO Health began in the early 1990s as a decision-support tool for NASA to help with differential diagnosis on the space shuttle.
Today, every major EHR vendor in the U.S. uses IMO Health solutions, which are relied on by more than 740,000 healthcare professionals in clinical settings. Our pioneering work in clinical terminology continues to underpin tools used across healthcare, from health tech and drug discovery to revenue cycle management and population health initiatives.
And while all of this is undeniably impressive, the real throughline is culture. You can hire the most brilliant minds, the most ambitious creatives, the most experienced managers, but if people don’t feel supported, valued, or connected to their teams, they won’t do their best work.
“We don’t just pay culture lip service,” Judy said. “For us, workplace culture is as much a strategic imperative as any other operating system in our business.”
