Children' Hospital Of Pittsburgh Of UPMC Selected As 2015 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award Recipient

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC has been named a 2015 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award recipient.. The Davies Awards program promotes electronic health record-enabled improvement in patient outcomes through sharing of case studies and lessons learned across a wide range of efforts, including implementation strategies, workflow design, best practice development and adherence, and patient engagement that have improved care outcomes for patients.

Renowned for its outstanding clinical services, research programs and medical education, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC has helped establish the standards of excellence in pediatric care. The first HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 pediatric hospital in the United States, Children’s Hospital has been in its new 10-acre home in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood since May 2009. Designed with input from physicians, nurses and families to ensure that patients receive care in a comfortable setting, the hospital is a benchmark for quality care built on five principles including: family-centered care, patient-safety and quality, technological sophistication, green campus and quiet building. From ambulatory care to transplantation and cardiac care, Children’s Hospital’s pediatric experts care for infants, children and adolescents who make more than 1 million visits to Children’s, its many neighborhood locations, and Children's Community Pediatrics practices each year.

Leveraging robust reporting from a state-of-the-art data warehouse, Children’s Hospital has significantly reduced hospital-acquired infections. A variety of clinical data populates a dashboard to generate a pediatric Rothman Index, a real-time and an easy-to-understand composite score that evaluates the patient’s condition. Using this scoring and alert interface that works through both the EHR and a number of mobile devices, providers trigger early preventative measures to significantly reduce ICU admissions associated with pulmonary and cardiac events.

In addition to these efforts to improve care delivery, Children’s Hospital has leveraged information technology to improve supply chain management to improve patient safety and financial outcomes. RFID technology, bar-coding, patient identification, and system automation have been leveraged to improve on-time delivery of medication rates while lowering medication errors by 60%. An improved labeling and delivery system has virtually eliminated errors in breast milk delivery. Besides potential health risks, the piece of mind for a new mother to know that she is receiving her own breast milk to administer to her newborn following discharge cannot be measured.

“This award recognizes the enhancements we have made to Children’s health informatics program and the tremendous impact these technological advances have made on care provided to our patients and families,” said Harun Rashid, vice president, global health services and chief information officer, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

“As a pediatric hospital, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC treats the most at-risk patients,” said Jonathan French, director of quality and patient safety at HIMSS North America. “Ensuring their patients receive the right treatment at the right time is paramount to successful treatment. Rather than trying to achieve static metrics, Children’s Hospital has a culture of learning and focus on constant improvement enabled through innovative data analytics and reporting capability. Those analytics are then used to launch programs that improve care delivery. The Davies Committee and HIMSS congratulate the team members of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC on receiving the Davies Award in recognition of IT utilization to improve the health outcomes of the children of western Pennsylvania.”

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC will be recognized at the 2016 HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, Monday, Feb. 29-Friday, March 4 in Las Vegas, Nev. For more information on applying for the HIMSS Davies Awards of Excellence, visit the HIMSS Davies Award website. The 2016 Davies Awards submission cycle will be open from Jan. 1 to July 1, 2016.

About HIMSS North America
HIMSS North America, a business unit within HIMSS, positively transforms health and healthcare through the best use of information technology in the United States and Canada. As a cause-based non-profit, HIMSS North America provides thought leadership, community building, professional development, public policy, and events. HIMSS North America represents 64,000 individual members, 640 corporate members, and over 450 non-profit organizations. Thousands of volunteers work with HIMSS to improve the quality, cost-effectiveness, access, and value of healthcare through IT. Major initiatives within HIMSS North America include the HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition, National Health IT Week, HIMSS Innovation Center, HIMSS Interoperability Showcases, HIMSS Health IT Value Suite, and ConCert by HIMSS.

About HIMSS
HIMSS is a global voice, advisor, convener, and thought leader of health transformation through the best use of IT with a unique breadth and depth of expertise and capabilities to improve the quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness of health and healthcare. Through its network of over 1 million professionals, including 64,000-plus members, HIMSS advises leaders, stakeholders and influencers globally on IT best practices to ensure decision-makers have the right information at the right time to make the right decisions. HIMSS North America,HIMSS Analytics, Personal Connected Health Alliance, HIMSS Media and HIMSS International (HIMSS Europe,HIMSS Asia and HIMSS Middle East) are the five business units of HIMSS. A not-for-profit headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, HIMSS has additional offices in North America, Europe, United Kingdom, and Asia.