Leaders of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City announced today, Friday, Dec. 4, that the state’s only academic medical center has won a prestigious national award for its use of health information technology to improve patient safety and outcomes.

The 2014 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award recognizes the outstanding achievement of organizations that use health information technology to substantially improve patient outcomes while achieving return on investment. The Davies Awards program promotes electronic health record-enabled (EHR) improvement in patient care.

UI Hospitals and Clinics achieved a broad range of benefits through the use of information technology that included:

• Significant reductions of adverse drug events and hospital-acquired infections
• Fewer cases of venous thrombosis (blood clots), sepsis (bloodstream infections), pneumonia, and other clinical conditions.
• Improved clinical outcomes
• Fewer deaths
• Shorter hospital stays

UI Hospitals and Clinics will be recognized at the 2015 Annual HIMSS Conference and Exhibition, April 12 to 16, 2015, in Chicago, Illinois.