On Monday evening, March 4, at the Palace Café on Canal Street in New Orleans, a crowd of over 400 HIMSS attendees, including noted dignitaries, gathered, as the editors of Healthcare Informatics honored the leaders of the winning teams in the Healthcare Informatics Innovator Awards program. Gerald Creed, R.N. accepted the Third Place Award on behalf of Shannon Medical Center (San Angelo, Tex.). Patrick Gordon and Marc Lassaux accepted the Co-Second Place Award on behalf of the Colorado Beacon Consortium (Grand Junction, Colo.). Anjum Khurshid, M.D., and Maria Ludwick accepted the Co-Second Place Award on behalf of the Louisiana Public Health Institute and the Crescent City Beacon Community (New Orleans). And Michael Rakotz, M.D. and Jonathan Silverstein, M.D. accepted the First Place Award on behalf of NorthShore University HealthSystem/NorthShore Medical Group (Evanston, Ill.). Healthcare Informatics had recognized each team in its February cover story package for its considerable accomplishments in leveraging healthcare IT to create noteworthy, replication innovation in important arenas such as population health, care management, the patient-centered medical home, patient safety, through collaborative initiatives.

The editors of Healthcare Informatics were honored to welcome several senior officials from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, and to be able to give Farzad Mostashari, M.D., National Coordinator for Health IT, the opportunity to offer his perspectives on the accomplishments of innovating teams like those represented by the HCI Innovator Award winning teams. Among the other health officials present were Judy Murphy, R.N., Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy at ONC, and Karen DeSalvo, M.D., M.P.H., MSc, Commissioner of Health for the City of New Orleans.

The editors of Healthcare Informatics would like to thank the leaders of the Innovator Awards program winning teams; Dr. Mostashari; all the other health officials and healthcare leaders present; the event’s vendor sponsors; and the dedicated staff of Healthcare Informatics and its publishing company, the Vendome Group; as well as the 400-plus attendees, for making the event a wonderful success for the magazine. And all those interested can learn more from the Colorado Beacon Consortium and Louisiana Public Health Institute/Crescent City Beacon Community teams, by joining us for the Healthcare Informatics Executive Summit in San Francisco in May, when the leaders of those teams will present detailed case studies on how they have achieved what they have, on behalf of their communities.