Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center Gets HIMSS Davies Award for Second Time
The Columbus-based Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) has become the first ever two-time winner of the HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award.
Since 1994, the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence has recognized outstanding achievement of organizations that have utilized health IT to substantially improve patient outcomes while achieving return on investment. In 2015, five provider organizations have been named Enterprise Davies Award winners—Hilo Medical Center, University of Missouri Healthcare, Ontario Shores, Centura Health, and now Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center.
OSUWMC is central Ohio’s only academic medical center, serving all patients and populations, with the uninsured and Medicaid population comprising approximately 25 percent of the organization’s patient mix. OSUWMC has a staff of approximately 16,000, with over 1,500 physicians, 900 fellows/residents and 500 mid-level providers.
Impressively, OSUWMC is the first two-time winner of the Davies Award, first winning in 2001. For this year’s recognition, OSUWMC launched a clinical data mart designed to monitor the use of anti-microbial medication. Through the utilization of policies developed as result of analysis of data from the data mart, OSUWMC clinicians significantly reduced the use of IV ciprofloxacin and saw a corresponding reduction of C. difficile infection rates. What’s more, using health maintenance alerts and standardized care, OSUWMC has significantly improved chronic disease management, including a 5 percent increase in the number of diabetic patients with HgbA1c under control, according to a HIMSS case study.
In addition, the OSUWMC IT department implemented a facility charge calculator within the electronic medical record (EMR) to more accurately code levels of service based on chart documentation in the emergency department. With the implementation of the charge calculator, OSUWMC has realized approximately $50 million in gross revenue per year from charges that would have been otherwise missed under the old system.
