1/30/2013 – NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) has been named Innovator of the Year by Healthcare Informatics magazine for a project that harnessed NorthShore’s electronic medical record (EMR) to screen for and evaluate individuals with previously undetected hypertension.
The Undiagnosed Hypertension Project, designed and executed by the NorthShore medical informatics team, has helped NorthShore make significant progress in eliminating undiagnosed hypertension among its patients receiving care within its primary care network. The project grew out of NorthShore’s Quality Mini-Fellowship, part of the health system’s Practice-Based Research Network, which links practicing physicians with research and quality improvement that produce outcomes that can be incorporated into daily practice.
“The hypertension project is one example of how our health technology translates into real benefits for our patients,” said Ari Robicsek, MD, Vice President, Clinical & Quality Informatics at NorthShore. “It is exciting to be able to mine this data and then put relevant information at physicians’ fingertips at the point of care.”
NorthShore was the first place winner and one of six teams of healthcare leaders recognized by Healthcare Informatics for their innovations in leveraging technology to improve the quality of healthcare delivery in the United States.
“The pioneering initiatives that these teams are engaged in exemplify the type of innovative work that will be required to transform healthcare delivery and improve today’s healthcare system for patients and communities,” said Mark Hagland, Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare Informatics. “There is no question that strategically leveraging leading-edge information technology will be needed to achieve this transformation; and the initiatives highlighted in our February 2013 issue exemplify the best in that type of work.”
Nominations were accepted in fall 2012 and were reviewed by the Healthcare Informatics editorial staff. The following teams will be recognized at the Healthcare Informatics Innovator Awards Reception, to be held Monday, March 4 in New Orleans during the annual HIMSS Conference:
First-Place: NorthShore University HealthSystem/NorthShore Medical Group, Evanston, Ill.
Second-Place (Tie): Louisiana Public Health Institute/Crescent City Beacon Community, New Orleans; Colorado Beacon Consortium, Grand Junction, Colo.
Third-Place: Shannon Medical Center, San Angelo, Tex.
Runners-Up: Beaumont Health System, Royal Oak, Mich.; Ozark Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Clinton, Ark.