The Hawaii-based Hilo Medical Center has been named a 2015 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award recipient for its utilization of health IT to substantially improve patient outcomes while achieving return on investment.
The Davies Awards program promotes electronic health record (EHR)-enabled improvement in patient outcomes through sharing of case studies and lessons learned across a wide range of efforts, including implementation strategies, workflow design, best practice development and adherence, and patient engagement that have improved both financial and care outcomes.
Hilo Medical Center (HMC) is a part of the East Hawai’i Region of the Hawai’i Health Systems Corporation (HHSC), serving as a safety-net hospital for two critical access hospitals, Hale Ho’ola Hamakua and Ka’u Hospital. The East Hawai’i Region also includes nine outpatient clinics with specialties. HMC is a 276-bed facility with137 acute beds, 20-bed behavioral health facility, and 119-bed, long-term care facility. Overall, 72 percent of HMC's patients have Medicare or Medicaid insurance.
“As hospitals struggle with reduced reimbursement, hospital leaders are utilizing technology and data to maximize care delivery efficiency,” Jonathan French, director of quality and patient safety at HIMSS, said in a press release statement. “Hilo Medical Center staff members could not make a cell phone call from inside their facility in 2009, yet by leveraging the data generated by health information technology Hilo has saved millions of dollars through more efficient care delivery and revenue cycle management.”
French continued, “Health information technology has enabled standardized protocols to reduce hospital acquired infections and reduce the mortality rates of patients admitted with pneumonia. The story of Hilo Medical Center represents a model of health IT-enabled care delivery that can assist struggling small community and safety net hospitals leverage data to survive. The Davies Committee and HIMSS congratulate the team members of Hilo Medical Center on improving the health outcomes of their patient population through the effective use of health IT.”
Hilo Medical Center will be recognized at the 2016 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, February 29-March 4, 2016 in Las Vegas, NV.
