Vt. doc practice wins HIMSS Davies Award

The six-physician White River Family Practice was named the winner of the 2013 Ambulatory HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence in the use of health information technology, the Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society announced.

The group practice, which includes three advanced nurse practitioners and a support staff of 14, is located in White River Junction, Vt., a village of fewer than 3,000 people on the border of New Hampshire and provides care to patients in both states. It was cited for using its electronic health-record system to create an EHR-supported collaborative environment designated as a “clinical microsystem" to improve patient care, according to a HIMSS news release.

"White River Family Practice has used the EHR technology platform to support a unique, quality focused care delivery environment where every staff member works collaboratively to deliver evidence-based, high quality care and produce measurable improved patient care outcomes,” Dr. John Bender, medical director of Miramont Family Medicine, a primary-care practice in Fort Collins, Colo., and chairman of HIMSS Davies Ambulatory Committee, said in the news release. Bender lauded the practice clinicians and staff "for their focus on improving the quality of healthcare delivery with the best use of health IT."

White River Family Practice physician Dr. Mark Nunlist said the group "looks forward to continuing the thoughtful application of information technology and to further the connections among area healthcare organizations to improve the health of the patient populations we jointly serve.”

The Davies Awards are named after health IT pioneer Dr. Nicholas Davies, who was a member of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Improving the Patient Record and president-elect of the American College of Physicians when he was killed in a plane crash in 1991.

White River Family Practice will formally receive the award at the annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition Feb. 23-27, 2014, in Orlando, Fla.

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