Community Health Davies Award

• Open Door Family Medical Center in Ossining, N.Y., a federally qualified community health center, serves the under-served, uninsured and underinsured residents of Westchester County. More than 92 percent of Open Door's patients have incomes at or below the 200 percent of the federal poverty line and more than 55 percent have no health insurance of any kind. As a Joint Commission accredited health center and an NCQA Level III Patient Centered Medical Home, Open Door leverages its data warehouse and quality reporting tools to achieve care quality and operational efficiency. Open Door embraces knowledge sharing and collaboration with numerous partners to improve healthcare system efficiencies and benefits.

"The Davies Award is the highest recognition of excellence that a community health organization can receive for its EHR implementation and use, and this year's winner, Open Door Family Medical Center, is a deserving recipient of the Davies," said Margaret F. Schulte, DBA, FACHE, CPHIMS, instructor, Masters of Science in Medical Informatics, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.  "The medical center staff has shown leadership, vision and enthusiasm in its EHR implementation; they and their community are reaping the benefits of improved patient outcomes and operational efficiencies. Each member of their staff, clinical and executive teams has been a part of this, and each deserves recognition for great work and commitment to a future of continuing improvement. They offer a model for CHOs across the country," she said.

Public Health Davies Award

• Wisconsin Division of Public Health's Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR) located in Madison, Wis. In 2000, the Wisconsin Immunization Registry was developed to consolidate the immunization records of the citizens of Wisconsin in a central database and to share this information with healthcare providers, schools, other health related programs and families for the purpose of improving the immunization status of its citizens and to prevent the occurrence of vaccine preventable diseases.  Currently more than 11,000 users from 1,609 provider organizations operating at some 4,200 facility sites are on the WIR. More than 2,500 schools have "look-up" access to the WIR. There are more than 6.8 million client records with 49 million associated immunization records. Each working day, 18,000 new or historical vaccine administration records are added to the WIR. In addition, 1,000 users are accessing the WIR at any given time throughout the day. Public access accounts for some 17,800 accesses monthly for a total of 213,654 accesses in 2009.

"The Wisconsin Immunization Registry has demonstrated excellence in their system development, population health impact, and their open source philosophy," said Amy Ising, chair, HIMSS Davies Public Health Steering Committee, and NC DETECT program director, Chapel Hill, N.C., a 2005 HIMSS Public Health Davies Award winner.

"A key population health population benefit of WIR is the ability for parents to look up their child's web-based vaccination lifelong record, bridging a typical immunization record gap," she said. "Sixteen states are now using WIR's modules and as a result are well-positioned to exchange immunization registry data with hospitals and eligible providers as part of the Meaningful Use Menu Option. All of us on the committee congratulate the WIR for their dedication and commitment to public health and receipt of the HIMSS Davies Public Health Award."