CHICAGO – Six healthcare organizations have been named as finalists for the 2010 HIMSS Davies Ambulatory Care and HIMSS Davies Public Health Awards of Excellence, recognizing their use of electronic health records.

The HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence, which originated in 1994, identifies organizations use of healthcare IT in four categories: Public Health, Organizational, Ambulatory and Community Health Organizations.

Officials said finalists in the HIMSS Davies Organizational and Community Health Award categories will be announced in late June. Winners of all four awards will be determined after site visits and final committee votes, with the winners announced in mid-September, they said.

The four HIMSS Davies Ambulatory Care Award finalists receiving site visits are:

1. Family Practice Associates, Wilmington, Del.
2. Grove Medical Associates, Worcester, Mass.
3. The Diabetes Center, Ocean Springs, Miss.
4. Miramont Family Medicine, Fort Collins, Colo.

Members of the HIMSS Davies Ambulatory Care Award Committee will visit the four finalist sites where they will tour the facility, talk with staff and acsee how the electronic health record operates in a real-world setting.

The HIMSS Davies Public Health finalists are:

1. Wisconsin Division of Public Health (DPH),Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR)
2. Florida Department of Health, Florida SHOTS (State Health Online Tracking System), statewide immunization registry

The public health organizations will receive a site visit from the HIMSS Davies Public Health Committee, which includes former winners of the award and other public health IT professionals. The committee will conduct a site visit with the staff of the finalists to evaluate the system based on the criteria for the award and the submitted application.

"The HIMSS Davies Awards of Excellence, in its 16th year, recognizes healthcare organizations across the country going beyond the standard of care with technology as they leverage health IT to demonstrate excellence in care and outcomes, " said David Collins, HIMSS director, healthcare information systems. "For each award category, the Davies Awards program involves a peer-review committee of past winners, such as clinicians and other subject matter experts, who review and evaluate workflow and use of the organizations' technology systems. The finalists are healthcare leaders because from their written application, they appear to meet the Davies criteria and use health IT to achieve value and efficiencies that others can learn from in their journey to leverage health IT."

In all HIMSS Davies Award categories, the application serves as a tool for an applicant to assess and document EHR progress based on four vital areas: management, functionality, technology and value. Winners will be invited to present at the 2011 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Fla., and to serve on their respective HIMSS Davies Award Committee.

List of last year's winners on the next page.