A healthcare system in Tacoma, Wash., a women's center in Virginia, a network of community health centers in the Bronx and a health center called Heart of Texas will all receive the 2009 HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence.

The awards, issued by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, recognize healthcare organizations that have achieved excellence through the use of healthcare information technology, specifically electronic health records. For the first time, they are being announced during National Health IT Week.

The recipients will receive their awards during the HIMSS10 annual conference March 1-4, 2010, in Atlanta.

"The recipients of the HIMSS Davies Awards are leaders in EHR implementation, as they prove that technology can be leveraged to produce value and achieve patient safety and quality outcomes with a positive ROI," said David Collins, HIMSS' director of healthcare information systems. "As the country moves closer to nationwide use of the electronic health record, these healthcare leaders should be considered valuable examples and resources for EHR success."

The MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, Wash., will receive the HIMSS Organizational Davies Award. MultiCare  is comprised of four hospitals, including a children's hospital, primary and urgent care clinics and home health and hospice programs.

"MultiCare has been using this technology from Epic Systems for over 10 years," said Florence S. Chang, CIO and senior vice president of clinical support services at MultiCare. "Without the strong foundation set early on in our clinics, the implementation in our hospitals would not have been as successful and we would not have reaped the benefits of seamless, connected care."

The Virginia Women's Center will receive the HIMSS Ambulatory Davies Award. The center is central Virginia's largest provider of obstetric and gynecologic care, with 26 physicians and 12 nurse practitioners at five sites.

The Community Health Organization Davies Awards will go to Urban Health Plan (UHP) a network of federally qualified community health centers at 13 sites in the South Bronx and Queens boroughs in New York, and Heart of Texas in Waco, Texas, a federal qualified health center that serves 90,200 residents of McLennan County, Texas, who live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.

Urban Health Plan implemented its electronic health record in 2006. UHP's president and CEO, Paloma Hernandez, said it helped transform the healthcare delivery system.

"Our work will go a long way in aiding the elimination of healthcare disparities in these communities," she said.

Heart of Texas rolled out its EHR system in 1997. Since then, the community health center has tripled the number of patients served and has expanded from a single location to 10 sites.

"The EHR has been a cornerstone of our expansion and quality improvement efforts," said Roland A. Goertz, MD, CEO of Heart of Texas.

In August, HIMSS named the recipients of two public health awards: the Boston Health Commission and Denver Public Health, a division of the Denver Health and Hospital Authority.