Electronic Health Reporter

Lakeland HealthCare of St. Joseph’s Mich. has been named a 2014 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award recipient. Since 1994, the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence has recognized outstanding achievement of organizations that have utilized health information technology to substantially improve patient outcomes while achieving return on investment. The Davies Awards program promotes EHR-enabled improvement in patient outcomes through sharing case studies and lessons learned on implementation strategies, workflow design, best practice adherence, and patient engagement.

Davies Enterprise Award recipients are Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model? (EMRAM) Stage 7 and 6 hospitals and healthcare delivery organizations. The EMRAM is an eight-step methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics™ Database. The final stage, Stage 7, represents an advanced patient record environment.

Lakeland HealthCare is a not-for-profit, community-owned system of care serving a tri-county region in southwest Michigan. Lakeland HealthCare has three hospitals, approximately 30 ambulatory clinics, and in addition, includes long-term care, home care and hospice services. Lakeland has 443 licensed beds and more than 4,200 employees making it the largest employer in Berrien County.

Lakeland completed a big bang implementation (where most or all of the functionality of an EHR system is introduced at once) across its acute and ambulatory care settings in 2012 using a “speed to value approach.” Through standardizing care by using evidence-based guidelines, collaboratively developed key performance indicators, and a quality-focused, team-oriented culture, Lakeland has significantly reduced adverse drug events, hospital-acquired infections and VTE, and improved population health outcomes of the residents of southwest Michigan.  With improved documentation, efficiencies, and cost avoidance resulting from those improved outcomes, Lakeland HealthCare has generated nearly $22 million in return on investment in two years. Learn more about Lakeland’s EHR-enabled quality improvement by reading the case studies on clinical value, return on investment, sepsis, core measures, and reducing unnecessary exposure to radiation.

“Lakeland’s speed-to-value approach is a valuable case in how to execute a big bang implementation in the tight timelines required by the EHR Incentive Program,” says Jonathan French, director of quality and patient safety initiatives and the Davies Award program at HIMSS. “Lakeland has developed a team-oriented culture focused on quality improvement, where information is used as a tool that enables the staff to take the right action at the right time to improve the care outcomes of their patients. At the same time, Lakeland’s approach has generated significant ROI for the organization. The Davies Committee and HIMSS congratulate the Lakeland HealthCare staff for their success in using health information technology to improve the quality of life of their patient population.”

“I am so grateful to the many nurses, physicians, analysts, process improvers and others who have ensured that Lakeland’s investment in an electronic health record has measurably enhanced healthcare, improved health, and has saved lives,” said Lakeland president and chief executive officer Loren Hamel, MD. “We are honored to receive a Davies Award for that work. We look forward to collaboration with other like-minded organizations across the country. Together, we can make healthcare safer, better, less expensive, and more compassionate.”

Lakeland HealthCare will be recognized at the 2015 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, April 12-16, 2015 in Chicago. For more information on applying for the HIMSS Davies Awards of Excellence, visit the HIMSS Davies Award website.  The 2015 Davies submission cycle will be open from Jan. 1 – May 31, 2015.