Spirit of HIMSS Award Recipient: Stephen Wood, UNI/CARE Systems Senior Vice President

SARASOTA, FL: Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) announced Fellow Member Stephen A. Wood, UNI/CARE Systems Senior Vice President, recipient of June 2009 Spirit of HIMSS Award. The Spirit of HIMSS award recognizes members who exemplify the HIMSS mission through volunteer efforts within the society. Mr. Wood was honored for his participation in the Quality and Price Reporting Collaborative Work Group, whose findings will be recognized in a future addition of the HIMMS Weekly Insider.

Collaboration Resulting in Best Practices
The QPR Collaborative Work Group, comprised of two HIMSS Steering Committees: the Quality and Safety Steering Committee and the Financial Systems Steering Committee, has been lauded by HIMMS President, H. Stephen Lieber. " The QPR Work Group is particularly honored for accomplishing the task to publish tools on best practices in leveraging HIT to capture and report pricing and clinical outcomes data', wrote Lieber in an award letter to Wood. "Your efforts conducting an ‘environmental' scan, exploring technology utilization, hosting a discussion during HIMSS09, and producing a white paper have facilitated the project's deliverables."

A Great Value and Interest to the Healthcare Industry
President Lieber stated, "The white paper that this work group produced will be of great value and interest to the healthcare industry. Not only does it describe in some detail the many initiatives that are working in this important area, it also defines the scope of quality and price reporting and discusses the remaining challenges and barriers in this area. The timing of this is extremely relevant given the major push to implement electronic record systems. The ultimate goal of this process is to define the HIT requirements for this type of reporting."

Stephen Wood is Senior Vice President of UNI/CARE Systems, a leading technical solution provider dedicated to the human services industry for over 25 years. Affording integrated clinical/financial system needs to healthcare organizations, UNI/CARE consistently provides superior services beyond technological trends. Noted for its reliable products, quality and value, UNI/CARE is renowned as the all-in-one leader in behavioral healthcare and human services technologies.