Microsoft Healthcare Users Group (MS-HUG) and Microsoft Corp. today announced a call for entries for the MS-HUG Annual Awards, including a newly formed category to recognize the Microsoft partners that have developed the best solutions for a local or regional health information organization (RHIO) as defined by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Recognizing that RHIOs are viewed as the building blocks for a national healthcare IT infrastructure, innovation in this arena is critical to achieve the federal government’s goal of providing every American with an electronic medical record within 10 years. As such, the organizations believe it is imperative to recognize solutions that demonstrate the application of technologies, standards and business models that advance interoperability and enhance the security of information sharing in the healthcare ecosystem.

Awarded since 1997, the MS-HUG Annual Awards have been given to innovative providers of healthcare, leading independent software vendors and systems integrators that responded to the needs of the healthcare industry by developing or using Microsoft®-based solutions that provide tangible business benefits and improve patient care.