​Congratulations to Christiana Care Health System (Wilmington, DE), winner of the 2014 Health Devices Achievement Award. The award is given each year to a member institution that has demonstrated excellence in the field of health technology management.

The winning submission, Best Practices in Telemetry Management: Re-defining Use While Maintaining Patient Safety and Reducing Costs, described Christiana Care's successful effort to reduce the overutilization of non-intensive-care cardiac telemetry throughout its health system by redesigning its cardiac telemetry processes. The intent of the initiative was to improve patient safety, allow clinical staff to focus on their patients' direct care requirements, and help staff use healthcare resources more wisely.

A multidisciplinary team led by Robert Dressler, MD, vice chair, department of medicine, set a goal of reducing the use of non-intensive-care cardiac telemetry by 20% within 12 months. The team's efforts resulted in a 43% reduction in the total number of patients on telemetry and a 47% reduction in average telemetry hours, with no adverse impact on patient safety—results that have been maintained a year after implementation. These improvements resulted in a 70% reduction in total telemetry costs for the health system, for an estimated annual saving of $4.8 million. Christiana Care's methodology included applying national guidelines for telemetry use and redesigning nursing processes (including development of a computerized tool) for cardiac telemetry assessment.

Five finalists for the award are also being recognized. Listed alphabetically, they are:

• Banner Health, Scottsdale, AZ: Bed Standards and Human Factors Usability Studies Utilized for Bed Purchasing Decisions
• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA: Optimizing Patient Safety: A Centralized Cardiac Monitoring Center (Cockpit)
• The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA: Using Video to Evaluate Physiologic Monitor Alarm Characteristics and Nurse Responses to Alarms
• Geisinger Health System, Danville, PA: Objective Assessment of Incoming Clinical Technology & Devices
• U.S. Army Western Regional Medical Command, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA: Nomenclature Standardization Initiative (NSI)

Look for a complete description of the winning initiative—as well as the runners-up—in an upcoming article.