New York City – The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) today announced that HHC President Alan D. Aviles has been selected to receive the national 2007 CEO IT Achievement Award from Modern Healthcare Magazine and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) for the implementation of advanced information technology that helps provide safe, effective, and efficient health care to HHC’s 1.3 million patients.

The award recognizes Aviles’ leadership in advancing the city’s public hospital system strategic goals through the use of technology, including reducing medication errors and improving health outcomes for patients with diabetes, asthma and other chronic diseases. HHC is the only public hospital system to achieve this national distinction.

“The definition of success in clinical IT is the degree to which we use technology to enhance patient safety, support evidenced-based medicine and ultimately improve patient outcomes,” said Aviles. “For many, it is counter-intuitive that clinical IT implementation in our public hospital system is ahead of most other hospitals in our city and the country at large.”

HHC has invested more than $100 million annually to build and advance some of the following IT achievements:

• Every patient at HHC has a comprehensive electronic medical record (EMR);
• Virtually all radiological and other diagnostic imaging is digital and is integrated into the EMR, making images accessible on the computer screen in any exam room;
• All medications are ordered on-line with built-in alerts for possible adverse drug interactions and dosing errors;
• All lab tests are ordered on-line and results are accessible on-line;
• Robotics in HHC laboratories and pharmacies boost efficiency and safety;
• Several thousand nurses have been trained to use an electronic medication reconciliation system, ensuring the right medication gets to the right patient in the right dose and at the right time;
• Patient clinical data is mined from the EMR each evening to update an electronic diabetes registry used to closely monitor the health status of 50,000 diabetic patients, enabling physician’s to better help with control of patients’ blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels;
• Asthma action plans are embedded in the electronic medical record and can be printed for patients to guide them in their self-management efforts;
• A depression screening tool is embedded in the EMR to help primary care physicians identify patients who suffer from this prevalent disease;
• The EMR calculates a patient’s risk of deep vein thrombosis (or “blood clots”) and recommends the most appropriate preventative measures based upon the relative severity of the risk;
• Smart Cards allow patients to carry key portions of their personal health information on a chip-embedded card – enhancing continuity of care and providing key data in emergencies;
• U.N.-style remote simultaneous translation services with wireless headsets allow patients with limited English proficiency to communicate with their doctors.

“Our work in clinical IT has allowed us to accelerate clinical performance improvement across many fronts to a degree that is powerful and transformative, and our patients are reaping the benefits of better care,” said Aviles.

Aviles’ selection was announced on April 30, 2007. He was chosen from a national pool of more than 60 chief executives and will share this year’s award with John Ferguson, President and CEO of Hackensack University Medical Center and Michael Murphy, President and CEO of Sharp HealthCare.

“It takes superior leadership and unwavering commitment to navigate the complex and lengthy process to deploy IT systems that will transcend healthcare,” said Fawn Lopez, publisher of Modern Healthcare. “We congratulate this year’s recipients for their superior leadership, courage, dedication and vision. They are true champions of IT in healthcare.”

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), the largest municipal hospital and health care system in the country, is a $5.4 billion public benefit corporation that serves 1.3 million New Yorkers and nearly 400,000 who are uninsured. HHC provides medical, mental health and substance abuse services through its 11 acute care hospitals, four skilled nursing facilities, six large diagnostic and treatment centers and more than 80 community based health centers. For more information about HHC, visit nyc.gov/hhc.