‘Smart Ribbon’ Tool Earns Digital Leader CHIME’s Innovator Award

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Nov. 1, 2017 – Imagine a setting where physicians have at their fingertips not only the cost of a medication, a lab test or of a scan but also the adverse drug reactions, the estimated blood loss and consequent risk of anemia or the patient’s cumulative exposure to radiation from imaging tests. Add to this scenario that the information appears unobtrusively with no clicking and on any electronic medical record (EMR) at any point of care.

Fernando Martinez not only imagined it, he helped make it a reality through the Austin-based Texas Hospital Association (THA) Foundation Center for Technology Innovation. Martinez, the chief digital officer at THA and the president and CEO of the THA Foundation, was honored today by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) with the 2017 CHIME Innovator of the Year Award. The award was announced at the CHIME17 Fall CIO Forum in San Antonio, Texas.

The award is given annually to a CHIME member whose creative application of IT and innovative solutions brought value to his or her organization. With Martinez at the helm, the Center for Technology Innovation identified a unique, innovative nascent technology that had the potential to significantly address two major pain points commonly raised by Texas hospital CEOs: management of cost and variability of care. The result was the THA Smart Ribbon, a digital tool to help clinicians make informed decisions based on cost and clinical data. Implementation of the THA Smart Ribbon using 55 providers at the Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas resulted in a cost savings of $430,444 over 71 days. The pre-post intervention study also demonstrated the predicted reduction in variation of care.

Parkland has expanded the use of the THA Smart Ribbon to all providers at Parkland Hospital and three more hospital systems have the tool in production or are implementing it. Several other hospital systems are in the final stages of joining the program and THA expects increased adoption will continue over the next few years.

“One key element to the success of the THA Smart Ribbon is the fact that it is EMR agnostic,” Martinez said. “It does not directly integrate or interact with the EMR. For instance, there is no need for additional testing or modification when EMR upgrades or modifications are made. This is a significant benefit for IT teams.”

CHIME Board Chair Liz Johnson, CIO of Acute Care Hospitals & Applied Clinical Informatics at Tenet Healthcare Corporation, noted that other hospital associations are evaluating the approach as a possible tool for their members. “As CIOs, we want to empower clinicians with relevant information presented precisely when they need it,” she said. “Fernando has given us a solution that is compatible with their workflow, but equally important, he has shared it with the broader community. This is well-deserved recognition of a truly innovative IT leader.”

To learn more about the 2017 CHIME Innovator of the Year Award, go here.

About CHIME

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 2,400 CIO members and over 150 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

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