UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, Calif., and University of Missouri Health Care have received the HIMSS Stage 7 Award for their use of electronic medical records (EMRs).

The award represents attainment of the highest level on the Electronic Medical Records Adoption Model (EMRAM), which HIMSS Analytics uses to track EMR progress at hospitals and health systems.

[See also: Iowa health system attains Stage 7 for EMR adoption.]

Michael Minear, CIO for the UC Davis Health System, said the Stage 7 level of implementation could only be achieved with all elements of the organization worked together to achieve excellence in the use of IT.

“UC Davis Medical Center operates in a paperless environment with any paper in use, such as code sheets, scanned into the EMR within 30 minutes. In fact, the hospital deploys roaming scanning teams, going from unit-to-unit to verify that scanning is fast and accurate,” said John P. Hoyt, executive vice president, HIMSS Analytics.

[See also: Truman Medical Center achieves Stage 7.]

Hoyt also noted the hospital: relies on a team approach for IT governance, with nurse and physician champions actively involved in this process; uses secondary data for clinical and business intelligence and research; recognizes, and is now reviewing, the impact of ICD-10 on the EMR; and offers capability for telemedicine, information exchange and more.

“This data-driven culture at UC Davis Medical Center is focused on education throughout the organization,” Hoyt said.

At MU Healthcare, CIO Joanne Burns, said the organization’s goal has always been to provide the best environment for the patient and those who deliver their care.

“The Tiger Institute for Health Innovation is a unique partnership between the University of Missouri and Cerner Corporation, with a goal of using health information technology to enhance the quality and safety of the care we provide,” Burns said. “MU Health believes that a solid technology infrastructure is the foundation for improving the health and care of patients and the community.”

“University of Missouri Health Care includes an academic medical center and four specialty hospitals in its complex but well-designed, system and governance structure,” said Hoyt. “Now operating in a paperless environment, the healthcare system recovered a large amount of once-used space for film and paper storage.”

HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database. There are eight stages (0-7) that measure a hospital’s implementation and use of information technology applications. The final stage, Stage 7, represents an advanced patient record environment. The validation process to confirm a hospital has reached Stage 7 includes a site visit by an executive from HIMSS Analytics and former or current chief information officers to ensure an unbiased evaluation of the Stage 7 environments.

UC Davis Medical Center and MU Healthcare are among the less than 2 percent of the more than 5,000 U.S. hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database to be awarded the HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 award.