MetroHealth System Receives 2015 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award

Cleveland, Ohio-based MetroHealth System has been named a 2015 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award recipient by the Healthcare Information Management and System Society (HIMSS) for the health system’s use of health information technology (IT) to substantially improve patient outcomes and achieve return on investment.

MetroHealth achieved HIMSS Stage 7 ambulatory status in May 2014 and was recognized as a Stage 7 Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) hospital later that year.

For the Davies Award, HIMSS specifically recognized MetroHealth’s successful utilization of health technology interventions and patient care plans to significantly improve care outcomes for its diabetic population and the health system also reduced drug resistant infections by more than 30 percent. Leveraging workflow enabled by health IT, MetroHealth also more than doubled the number of HIV and HCV screenings for at-risk patients, according to HIMSS.

Efficiencies in care delivery and cost benefits associated with improved care outcomes have produced a return on investment of nearly $8 million.

“We are proud to be leading the way in demonstrating high-quality, patient-centered and technology-enabled care," David Kaelber, M.D., chief medical informatics officer at MetroHealth, said in a statement. "This recognition, complements the HIMSS Analytics EMRAM Stage 7 ambulatory and hospital recognition we received in 2014, and acknowledges MetroHealth's leadership and commitment to pushing the use of electronic medical records for the benefit of our patients, our healthcare system, and all of Northeast Ohio.”

“As an integrated care delivery network serving patients regardless of their ability to pay, MetroHealth’s commitment to prevention and chronic disease management is critical to avoid hospitalizations and reduce costs,” said Jonathan French, director of quality and patient safety at HIMSS North America. “What many organizations call ‘soft return on investment’ associated with improved patient outcomes has a real impact on the bottom line for MetroHealth.”

French continued, “MetroHealth demonstrates how IT can be leveraged to improve the health of the most at-risk patients in the Cleveland area while at the same time being responsible stewards of the public funding they receive from Cuyahoga County. The Davies Committee and HIMSS congratulate the team members of The MetroHealth System of Cleveland on receiving the Davies Award as recognition of their utilization of information technology to improve the health outcomes of underserved patients in Northeast Ohio.”

Established in 1837, The MetroHealth System has provided healthcare for the Cleveland community for their most basic health needs and through national crises, such as the outbreak of tuberculosis and the polio epidemic, according to HIMSS.

In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) designated MetroHealth as an official Ebola Treatment Center, the only one in Ohio.

MetroHealth is an integrated health system with an acute care hospital housing Cuyahoga County's only verified Level I Adult Trauma Center and Burn Center, a skilled nursing facility and 20 locations throughout the community.

Annually, MetroHealth handles more than one million patient visits including more than 100,000 in the Emergency Department, one of the busiest in the country.