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Community Health Centers Selected as 2014 HIMSS Community Health Organization Davies Award Recipient

Community Health Centers, Inc. is a 2014 HIMSS Community Health Organization Davies Award of Excellence recipient, the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) announced today. Since 1994, the Nicholas E. Davies Award has recognized excellence in the use of health information technology, specifically the use of the electronic health record (EHR) to successfully improve health care delivery processes and patient safety while achieving a demonstrated return on investment.

Davies Community Health Organization Award recipients are federally qualified community health centers that have demonstrated significant sustainable improvement of patient outcomes through the utilization of electronic health records and information technology while achieving return on investment.

Community Health Centers, Inc. (CHC) is a private, non-profit Federally Qualified Community Health Center that provides quality and compassionate, primary and preventive medical, dental, and pharmaceutical services to insured, uninsured, under-insured, and under-served children and adults within Central Florida. Established in 1972, Community Health Centers, Inc. has built 11 medical and dental centers throughout Orange and Lake counties, serving more than 53,000 annually.

Using a comprehensive EHR-enabled quality improvement strategy focused on adherence to best practice protocols and heavy technology-enabled patient engagement strategies has sustained excellent care coordination while maintaining a high level of care delivery that scores well above national benchmarks. CHC’s use of technology to conduct pre-visit planning and drive self-management of chronic conditions has almost doubled the percentage of patients with a diagnosis of hypertension who have a blood pressure under 140/90 within their patient population. CHC further advances continuity of care by linking primary care and dental care within the EHR, which prevents potential risks associated with dental surgery for patients with morbidities. CHC also has developed an innovative change management strategy that reviews patient data to ensure that the organization is constantly evaluating care outcomes and adjusting workflows to insure continuous learning and improvement. As a result of these efforts, CHC has received a Level II Patient Centered Medical Home designation from NCQA.

“Community Health Centers, Inc. stands out for their commitment to use health information technology to drive quality improvement,” says Jonathan French, Director of Quality and Patient Safety at HIMSS. “CHC has developed a culture focused on quality improvement, where the EHR is a tool that enables the staff to take action that ultimately results in improved outcomes. The Davies Committee and HIMSS congratulate the Community Health Centers, Inc. of Winter Garden, Florida staff for their focus on improving the population health of central Florida’s most vulnerable citizens through the effective use of health information technology to enable improved care delivery.”

“CHC is honored to receive the 2014 HIMSS Community Health Organization Davies Award in recognition of our successful application of an electronic health record to improve care outcomes and population health,” said Kim Barkman, Director of Clinical Informatics at Community Health Centers, Inc. Mark Dickinson Executive VP/CFO and Interim President/CEO said that “Community Health Centers, Inc. is committed to providing high quality, outcome based healthcare to our patients and to the processes necessary in achieving that goal. This award is the culmination of the hard work and dedication of the entire CHC staff toward that goal.”

Community Health Centers, Inc. will be recognized at the 2015 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, April 12-16 in Chicago IL. For more information on applying for the HIMSS Davies Awards of Excellence, visit the HIMSS Davies Award website. 2015 Davies submission cycle will open on January 1, 2015, and close on May 31, 2015.

Please Note: While Community Health Centers has compiled the information on this page diligently and to the best of its knowledge, Community Health Centers does not assume any liability for the accuracy of the information or any damages resulting from the use of the information.
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