Navicent Health's Omer Awan Wins Innovator of the Year Award
Awan Continues Award Winning Efforts after 2018 "Transformational Leadership" Award
Healthcare is notoriously siloed, which poses a costly barrier to coordinated care. Omer Awan, senior vice president and chief information and digital officer at Atrium Health Navicent, and his team successfully used health IT to remove barriers, improving quality and the patient experience while increasing savings for Atrium Health Navicent. For that, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) named Awan the 2019 CHIME Innovator of the Year. The award was presented on Monday, November 4 at the CHIME Fall CIO Forum in Phoenix.
"Omer dreams big and then finds ways to make his dreams a reality," said CHIME Board Chair Shafiq Rab, MD, senior vice president and CIO at Rush University Medical Center. "He and his team developed a system-wide platform that they have used to design customized solutions, always keeping the customer in mind. They've shown there are no limitations for innovators who use their imagination."
Awan partnered with a software development company to develop OrCarestra, an innovation platform that the Atrium Health Navicent team could use to integrate applications that coordinate existing systems and streamline the delivery of care. Among their achievements:
A scheduling platform that allows community physician practices to quickly schedule procedures at a hospital, replacing faxes and phone calls; An electronic patient check-in process using the airline boarding as a model that makes canceling and rescheduling easy, removes the burden of filling out paper forms and cuts down the wait time;
An intuitive patient management tool that displays patient case activity on a single page. It includes assessment tools, care plan recommendations, identifies gaps and offers patient education resources; and.
A physician directory that allows physicians to customize their biographies, photos and search terms, making it faster and easier for patients to find providers who match their needs.
"Innovation is never about one person; it is a team sport and I am fortunate to have such fantastic teammates," Awan said. "Thanks to their great work, we are well positioned to meet the strategic objectives of the enterprise."
The Innovator of the Year Award is given annually to a member of CHIME whose creative application of technology has demonstrated value to their healthcare organization with an innovative solution that can be shared widely with the CHIME membership.
Awan also received CHIME's 2018 Transformational Leadership Award.
About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs), chief innovation officers (CIOs), chief digital officers (CDOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 2,900 members in 56 countries and over 150 healthcare IT business partners 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 care in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.
About Atrium Health Navicent
Atrium Health Navicent, the leading provider of healthcare in central and south Georgia, is committed to its mission of elevating health and wellbeing through compassionate care. Providing more than 1,000 beds and offering care in 53 specialties at more than 50 facilities throughout the region, Atrium Health Navicent provides care for healthcare consumers' through an academic medical center; community, pediatric and rehabilitation hospitals; urgent care centers; physician practices; diagnostic centers; home health; hospice and palliative care; and a life plan community. Atrium Health Navicent is dedicated enhancing health and wellness for individuals throughout the region through nationally recognized quality care, community health initiatives and collaborative partnerships. For more information, please visit www.navicenthealth.org.